Mikel Amatriain Arteta

 
In January 2005, with Thomas Gravesen already departed for Real Madrid and time running out to secure some kind of replacement for the mercurial Dane, Mikel Arteta was the surprise deadline-day package brought in by David Moyes on loan at the end of the transfer window. 

Dubious Evertonians viewed the acquisition of a player flying well below the radar and whose career had failed to take off in Scotland as a panic signing.  As a move to bolster Everton's flagging attempts to preserve fourth place and a chance at qualifying for the following season's Champions League; however, it proved inspired. 

Arteta uses the Euskera (Basque) version of his name, not the Spanish Miguel, but Mikel, which is pronounced Mick-ell with the stress on the first syllable. Easy enough for Scousers!  He was deemed to be a talented playmaker — a product of Barcelona's famed youth academy — but, instead of graduating to the senior squad at the Nou Camp, he started his career on loan at Paris St Germain before Glasgow Rangers paid a massive £5.8M for him in July 2002.

In two years in Scotland he made 50 league appearances, scoring 12 goals, plus a further 18 appearances and one more goal in cup competitions.  But he was not happy at Ibrox, yearned to return to his native Spain and was signed by Real Soceidad for £2.7M in the summer of 2004.

Unfortunately for him, he soon found himself curiously out of favour there so when the opportunity to return to Britain with Everton arose barely six months later, the Basque midfielder accepted.

The loan deal struck with Sociedad for the highly-rated 22-year-old included the option for Everton to make the move permanent for a fee of £2.85M in the summer.  But Arteta's failure to settle at earlier clubs was an initial worry, not least the earnest desire to leave Rangers and return to Spain because he was homesick.

Arteta insists he was forced out of Real against his wishes. "I find the situation very strange; perhaps it's best for the club that I move on.  I do not want to create problems for the club.  So I will leave to help the board."

Arteta added: "It's been very difficult to improve my situation at Real Sociedad because I do not have the confidence of the coach in charge, I have never received an explanation as to why I have been continually left out."

Charged with filling the substantial white shoes of Gravesen, Arteta didn't inspire confidence when he started his Everton career by missing a possible debut against Norwich City due to a knee injury.

Eventually, though, Mikel came good for Everton, really starting to excel and take control of the midfield.  A great free-kick powered into the Crystal Palace net was perhaps the peak of his excellent half-season, and the case can certainly be made that he played a key role in securing Everton's place in the 2005-06 Champions League Third Qualifying Round.

At the end of the 2004-05 season, the question of a permanent move exercised the Goodison brass, who needed to act before 31 May in order to take first option on the already agreed £2.8M transfer fee.  But the word was that Arteta wanted a salary of £40k/wk, and that was simply too much for David Moyes.

With Arteta saying that he wanted "to feel more valued by the club" and that he felt "closer to starting pre-season training with Sociedad than... with Everton," the prospect of retaining his services looked bleak.

Ultimately, the situation was resolved and Arteta signed a five-year contract but, while he quickly emerged as the club's best player in 2005-06 and was deservedly voted Player of the Season, he was unable to prevent Everton's European dream from crashing down around them.

First, they were dumped out of the Champions League by the combination of a Riquelme-inspired Villarreal and an uncharacteristic — to the point of downright suspicious — refereeing blunder by Pierluigi Collina in denying a perfectly good Duncan Ferguson goal.

Then, the Blues were ripped the shreds by seemingly innocuous Rumanian side Dinamo Bucaresti and eventually bombed out of the UEFA Cup 5-2 on aggregate. Arteta suffered more than most, taking a vicious hit to the back and neck that left him convulsing on the Goodison turf and sidelined him for a month as he recovered.

But Arteta increasingly became a key player and often the lone creative force as Everton struggled to climb out of the relegation zone.  When he didn't play, the difference was often embarrassing.  So rumours of an impending move to Man Utd in the summer were met with fear and trepidation.  Thankfully they proved to be hogwash.

Arteta continued to be Everton's best player by considerable distance, lighting up Goodison with his sublime skill and mesmerising ball control. No surprise then that he was voted Everton's Player of the Season again, after another superb spell as source of most creativity and flair, briefly supplemented by the cameo appearances of Manual Fernandes.

And true to their word, Everton renegotiated Arteta's contract in June 2007 — even though it still had three years to run — securing a five-year  extension through 2012.  Excellent business for the club, and a brilliant confirmation of their ambition to build a great footballing team.

But Arteta struggled from October 2007 with a niggling stomach/groin muscle injury that no-one wanted to operate on. So we had to suffer Mikey playing worse and worse until the end of the season when they finally admitted the inevitable. And he came back fully refreshed at the start of the 2008-09 season with brilliant if all-too rare free-kick zinger against Blackburn.

Mikey did well until he tore knee ligaments at Newcastle in February 2009, and that was him out for the season.

By Michael Kenrick and Lyndon Lloyd
Last updated July 2009