Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been unveiled as the new director of performance with global sporting apparel brand Under Armour.
Arteta is about to embark on his seventh season as Gunners boss, hoping to finally end a 21-year wait for a Premier League title after three successive runner-up finishes.
But his standing in the sporting world has also brought a major commercial role to his door.
Leading Arsenal is intense work, but Under Armour say Arteta will help the American brand continue to “disrupt” football as it seeks to further establish itself as a greater presence alongside traditional football giants Nike, adidas and Puma.
One of Arteta’s roles with Under Armour is to “develop” future stars, specifically serving as an ambassador for the Next London programme, which seeks to “empower London’s next-gen athletes”.
Arteta revealed at a press event in London this week that he hopes to learn things from other sports as part of the role that he can apply to his job at Arsenal.
“I think there are things that have been invented in other sports that they are not in football yet,” the Spaniard explained. “In many processes in our industry, we are far behind and in the ones that we are ahead, we can share them and they can become better.
“Just facilitating the job, the way you are thinking, to understand how decisions are made at the highest level as well. Why they make those decisions? The timing that they use, the reason why we make them, for me I find incredible valuable, as well.
“And if I can do the same from my side, for them to understand how to talk to a player, how to talk to a manager, how to develop a product, how to instigate a strategy to get somebody on board with the company, I think that is something very powerful.”
Under Armour has been growing its football stable in recent years.
Barcelona forward Ferran Torres signed with the brand last season, joining teammates Fermín López and Marc Casadó. Tottenham Hotspur right back Pedro Porro and Real Madrid centre back Antonio Rüdiger are other UA-branded players. Under Armour also formerly made Tottenham kits from 2012 until 2017, but currently has no major club partner.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mikel Arteta Lands Surprise New Job Days Before New Premier League Season.