LONDON, May 6, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Mikel Arteta wants to take Arsenal to the

"next level" after signing a new three-year contract that will keep him at
the Premier League club until 2025.

The 40-year-old, who took charge in 2019 following the dismissal of Unai
Emery, is close to leading Arsenal back into the Champions League after a
five-year absence.

The Gunners are fourth in the Premier League table, two points clear of north
London rivals Tottenham with just four games to go.

"We want to take the club to the next level and to compete really with the
top teams. In order to do that, we have to be playing in the Champions
League," Arteta said in a club statement.

"We have to be able to evolve the team, improve our players, improve all
departments, generate even more connection with our fans, improve the
atmosphere at the Emirates, be able to recruit top, top talent and the best
people for this club to drive this project to that level."

Arteta, who won the FA Cup during his first year in charge at the Emirates,
has steered Arsenal back towards the top of the table after their worst start
to a season for decades.

The Spaniard was facing calls for his sacking back in September but he has
been rewarded for keeping faith with his young players as well as cutting
ties with club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who moved to Barcelona in
January.

Arsenal have enjoyed impressive recent wins over Manchester United and
Chelsea to take control of fourth place but face a potentially decisive derby
against Spurs next week.

Arteta, whose team host struggling Leeds on Sunday, revealed at his pre-match
press conference that he was offered the new contract after Arsenal suffered
successive defeats against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton last
month.

The former Gunners midfielder took that as a sign of how committed the club
were to him.

"The club offered me the contract when we lost three matches," he said. "That
doesn't happen in football.

"That's a part of what they think, the conversations that I had, the belief
that they have in myself, the coaching staff, in what we are doing and the
people that we have now owning this football club and leading this football
club."

Arteta hopes the new deal will prove a boost to his squad as they battle to
return to the Champions League.

"They thought the best moment was to do it right now, to give a final push to
the team, to give some clarity about what we have to do in the summer, in the
future," he said.

Arsenal women's manager, Jonas Eidevall, whose side are challenging for the
Women's Super League title, has signed a new deal taking him to the end of
the 2023/24 season.