Mikel Arteta revealed he had one doubt about signing for Raheem Sterling but knew he had to bring the Chelsea winger to Arsenal within 10 second of speaking to him.
The 29-year-old was deemed surplus to requirements by Chelsea in the summer with Enzo Maresca leaving him in no doubt that he would not get playing time at Stamford Bridge.
Sterling looked destined to play out the first half of the season training with the reserves until Arsenal and Arteta came to his rescue during the final hours of the transfer window.
The former Manchester City winger enjoyed arguably the best spell of his career when Arteta was Pep Guardiola’s No.2 at the Etihad Stadium and the Spaniard is confident Sterling still has plenty to offer.
‘Obviously in his personal life a lot of things have changed since we were together,’ The first call I had with him, I knew straight away after 10 seconds, we had to bring him because he really wanted it.
‘And that was my only question mark, what stage is he at in his career? I knew after 10 seconds – bring him here.’
Arteta added: ‘I see his hunger – he’s a player who wants to play every minute of every game, and when that’s not the case, he’s not happy. He loves football, it’s what he likes doing every single day and I see that.
‘His commitment, the level of energy that he’s bringing to the team, and the quality is a big boost. You can feel that in the players as well when he walked through the door, we are better with him. He’s going to make us better.
‘He has his ability and the credit to that is his, and the players that he’s got around him. You need that when you are one of the front players.
‘Certainly, he’s had that intuition, that will and the ability to do that and I’m sure he’s going to impact the team.’
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