Athletic Club boss Valverde believes Arteta is ‘one of the best coaches in the world’ – and says new Arsenal star is ‘already shining’ | OneFootball

Ernesto Valverde says Mikel Arteta should be considered one of the best coaches in the world.

Valverde’s Athletic Club side take on the Gunners in their opening game of the Champions League on Tuesday night.

And asked how he rates Arsenal boss Arteta, Valverde said: “As one of the best coaches in the world, surely.

“What he is doing in Arsenal proves it. I do not say it just because Arsenal has great players, but because of what they do, how they play, their spirit, how they press you, how they do not let you play, how insistent they are in each duel.

“And then, at the time of the game, with the quality of technique they have, it is difficult to press them very high because they have resources to go out and play in the space.

“It is clear that when you are playing with one of the favourite teams to win the competition, it can be Arsenal, or one of the favourites to win the Premier League, it is clear that you have to tune very fine and take advantage of the opportunities that you can have and not concede too many.

“We have to admit that and we have to know what we have in front of us. It is like when Real Madrid and Barcelona come to play at that level. You have to make a perfect game to show your virtues and try to minimise what they can do to you, which can be a lot.

“We just played with them recently in the pre-season and we know more or less how they play and the level they have.”

Valverde also had some positive words to say about Martin Zubimendi, who joined Arsenal in the summer and scored his first two goals for the club in the win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

“We already see that Zubimendi has just arrived and is already shining there and I do not know if he will have a special motivation (to play against a Spanish club),” he said.

“They already know us, it is an advantage that they can have in that sense, but we also know them and that’s it.

“We hope it will be a good game, we hope they do not shine as much as they would like, but it is also another incentive to be able to face those (Spanish) players.”