In an attempt to impart a valuable lesson to his teammates, Mikel Arteta performed an odd test on his own players during an Arsenal team dinner. In addition to disappointingly missing out on winning the English premier league in each of the previous two seasons, the Gunners’ return to the Champions League was also a letdown. With Arsenal starting the new season as one of the favourites once again, it seems like Arteta is doing everything in his power to help his team win. The Athletic has discovered that during a dinner with his first-team players, Arteta surreptitiously hired a group of skilled pickpockets whose job it was to steal wallets and phones. The Spaniard requested the participants empty their pockets at the conclusion of the meal. A few of them then noticed they were lacking important items. The purpose of this practice was allegedly to instill in them the value of staying vigilant at all times. 

Mikel Arteta reportedly pulled a stunt on his Arsenal players at a dinner in order to teach them a lesson

Professional pickpockets that the manager hired took valuables from many Gunners players. Fans have responded poorly to the lesson, though it’s unknown how well the stunt went over with the Gunners players that evening. Arteta is hardly the first Premier League manager to face backlash for a motivational or instructional strategy. In his infamous first pre-match meeting as manager, Brendan Rodgers of Liverpool showed his squad three envelopes and warned them that the names inside will betray him this season. Brad Jones, the former custodian for the Reds, disclosed that the prank quickly backfired. He told the Liverpool Echo in 2022, “When he did it, as we were sitting and he was talking, he put the envelopes up and you could actually see straight through them, just the way that the light caught them.” I simply recall thinking, “I don’t think there’s anything in those envelopes,” as I was sitting there. In contrast to when Rodgers did it later, former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves said that renowned former Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson had used the same tactic during the 2007 preseason. Hargreaves also claimed that the players had benefited from it. After their most recent preseason match, Gunners supporters may be in for an exciting season. Arteta will be hoping that his trick will produce the kind of outcomes Ferguson observed.

Brendan Rodgers infamously told his players that he had taken down the names of the stars he thought would let the team down in the upcoming season 

Arsenal put on a show in dismantling Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night

Fans made fun of Arteta on social media for using such a complex strategy to get his team to learn a lesson. However, X fans weren’t persuaded. One fan on X said, “That’s how you build trust with your players, by robbing them all,” and included an emoji of laughter with their post. ‘And they’ll never trust him again,’ another person remarked. “Bro thinks pickpocket will get prepare them to win the league,” remarked a third platform user. Another startled user on X questioned, “How does this correlate with football or winning the league huh.”” On Wednesday night at the Emirates, Arsenal easily defeated Bayer Leverkusen, the Bundesliga champions. After that 4-1 victory, they played Lyon on Sunday ahead of the Premier League opener on August 17 against Wolves.