Gabriel Heinze: The big brother helping Mikel Arteta to get Arsenal over the line

Heinze joined Arteta's coaching staff in July 2025 After three consecutive Premier League runners-up finishes, Mikel Arteta was left searching for answers. What would it take to turn his Arsenal team into champions? The squad needed more depth. The mentality had to be tougher. The club responded by signing eight new players. Yet the most important summer arrival may well have been the least conspicuous. Arteta turned to one of his oldest and most trusted allies: former Argentina, Paris St-Germain, Real Madrid and Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze, who replaced outgoing assistant Carlos Cuesta. Arteta and Heinze first met at PSG in 2001 under the management of Luis Fernandez. "They were great boys," says Fernandez, who signed Arteta from Barcelona in January 2001 and Heinze from Real Valladolid six months later. "It was a pleasure to manage them. What's great is they haven't changed. They're exactly the same today; loyal, hard-working people. When I see what they're doing at Arsenal, I'm very proud." It feels highly significant that at this key moment in Arteta's managerial career, he turned to a figure who had performed the role of a big brother to him at PSG. Arteta was ju