One of the first players to take Arteta under his wing was Pochettino, who the Spaniard has since described as his “big brother” and “football father”.
The Argentine, 10 years his senior, also arrived in January 2001 after leaving La Liga side Espanyol and struck up a close bond with his new team-mate as they shared a hotel for the first three months of their time in Paris.
Arteta’s leadership skills, according to Pochettino, were apparent from the outset.
“He was already a coach,” he said of his former PSG colleague in 2023. “He was giving advice to me and the others. [I’d] say ‘wow!’ – the character, the personality, the charisma. He already had the football brain.”
Arteta was tasked by manager Luis Fernandez – who had already tried to sign the teenager while in charge of Athletic Bilbao – with orchestrating play from a deep-lying midfield position, a role he fulfilled with a confidence and maturity that belied his age.
“Fernandez asked him to play simply and help provide a platform for more creative talents like Okocha, and he carried it out brilliantly,” French football expert Matt Spiro told BBC Sport.
“Arteta was a quiet man but already displayed the steely determination we see in him today. Like most Barcelona players he was tactically excellent, but the most surprising and impressive aspect of his game, given his age, was his tactical awareness.”
Arteta made 11 appearances before the end of the campaign, scoring his first PSG goal in a 2-2 draw with Lille on the season’s penultimate weekend. Despite his fine start, however, Fernandez’s side ended that term in inauspicious fashion.
After losing 4-0 to Auxerre in the French Cup fourth round – Arteta’s debut for the club – they finished bottom of their second-round group in the Champions League and only narrowly clinched a top-half finish on the final day of the season.
But better times were just around the corner.
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