Mikel Arteta’s former Arsenal assistant Steve Round has revealed the real reason why he left the club last year.
Round, who previously served as David Moyes’ right-hand man at Everton and Manchester United, arrived at the Emirates alongside Arteta in 2019.
In the summer of 2023, Round left his post with Carlos Cuesta moving up to assume more responsibility in the Gunners’ dugout.
That same summer, Arsenal brought in David Raya from Brentford on an initial loan deal that was made permanent this summer. The Spaniard quickly displaced Aaron Ramsdale in goal with the England international leaving the Emirates to join Southampton in August.
Reports at the time suggested Round was one of those who ‘argued against’ the signing of the Spanish shot stopper, fearing replacing the popular Ramsdale who disrupt the dressing room harmony in north London. The disagreement reportedly played a part in Arteta’s decision to part ways with Round.
Round however has insisted there was no falling out with Arteta, with the two mutually agreeing his departure.
‘I read a piece about that and that’s completely untrue, it’s a load of rubbish,’ Round told the Footy Accumulators No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.
‘There were no arguments or differences of opinion or anything like that. When I first went in with Mikel, I said to him, when the time is right, I think I’ll need to move on when it suits us both.
‘We had a discussion in that summer [2023] and we said, I think it’s time that I went and we were both in agreement with each other. I think I needed to step away from it and have a break. I’ve been on the front line for nearly 30 years and it was tough.
‘And I think he [Arteta] needed to refresh his staff as well and promote a couple of younger coaches. I’d moved more into the technical director sphere, which is what I’m looking at right now. So I just felt it was the right time.
‘Mikel’s a world-class coach. His ability to get his message across tactically and the way to teach that team to play in a cohesive unit is unbelievable.
‘I was proud of what we did there, of what we achieved, to go in and help turn a club around that was starting to fail. I helped to rebuild and embrace the culture that was Arsenal and put it back on track.’
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