Mikel Arteta's Arsenal future at risk after painful Champions League exit

Mikel Arteta’s future at Arsenal has come under scrutiny after their painful exit from the Champions League tie, losing 3-1 on aggregate against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

Arteta is beginning to feel the pressure for the very first time in his managerial career with the Gunners after what could be termed as a disappointing campaign for the club.

The recent Champions League exit and failure to win the Premier League in his last five seasons have ignited uncertainties over his long-term stay at the London club.

This has moved three Arsenal legends, Alan Smith, Jeremie Aliadiere, and Jens Lehmann, to have their say on the matter – a matter hard to overlook, as people closer to the team, just like Arteta.

It is worth noting that the three former Arsenal players have publicly backed Arteta, insisting he deserves to stay and continue the project he’s built at the Emirates Stadium.

Back in January, Alan Smith said missing out on the Premier League title this season would be “a bitter blow”, but tipped Arteta and his team to regroup and “achieve great things”.

“The squad is still young, learning all the time from victories and mistakes. It’s a process,” the Arsenal icon told Bonus Code Bets.

“I don’t think Arteta’s job is in danger,” he added. “The owners won’t make a knee-jerk decision.

Yes, there’s dissatisfaction among some fans, but the club is unlikely to react hastily.”

In the same view, Jeremie Aliadiere said he believed that Arteta was the man to lead Arsenal to glory and urged the Spaniard to “ignore social media”.

Speaking to the Daily Express in March, the Frenchman stressed: “Arteta is the main to lead Arsenal forward.

“You look at what he has changed at the club, the positivity, the fanbase is more engaged.

“The recruitment has been very good. Arsenal are challenging for all major honours. Arsenal have been so close, but it’s getting over the line which matters and Mikel can do this.”

Reacting to Arsenal’s semi-final first leg defeat to PSG last month, ex-Gunners keeper and Invincibles star Jens Lehmann hit out at Arteta’s critics – but did admit he needed to “win next year”.

“You have to give a lot of credit to him,” Lehmann told talkSPORT. “He pulled himself out, he changed the team and now he has made them very stable, and stable at the top, which is fantastic for the current owner, because he generates the money.

“But obviously, he has to win next year. This year, they could have won [the Premier League], Manchester City dropped a little bit, Liverpool replaced them.

“Next year he has to win, but he probably needs to change his personality a little bit to win things. Because sometimes, it’s [about] control and being cautious.

“But if you want to win some things, in my opinion you could be a little more risky.”

In Arteta’s five-and-a-half years in charge at Arsenal, the 43-year-old has only managed to lift the FA Cup, doing that just months after his appointment in 2019.

Since then, he’s transformed the club into a formidable domestic and European force, but major silverware continues to elude him.

Beating reigning champions Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate in the Champions League in the quarter-finals seems to have revived hopes of eventually ending the season with a major trophy – but it wasn’t to be.

PSG, perhaps, had other ideas. Arteta’s side succumbed to a 3-1 aggregate loss to the Parisians, denying them their only chance of winning silverware in the current campaign.