Five members of Arsenal's title-chasing squad are preparing to follow manager Mikel Arteta into coaching, with four stars recently completing their UEFA B licence.
Arteta, who is among the youngest managers in the Premier League, began taking his own badges before turning 30. He was just 37 when he got the Arsenal job on a permanent basis, and has turned the Gunners into title challengers within the space of three years.
Granit Xhaka, Mohamed Elneny, Cedric Soares and Rob Holding have all secured their B licence, paving the way for a path into coaching or, eventually, management. Oleksandr Zinchenko completes the quintet, having continued along the coaching pathway with Ukraine.
"A few of them came up to me after working together and they had the feeling they wanted to start doing it," Arteta said, as reported by the Mail. "It [taking coaching badges] focused me more, I enjoyed more playing and all the processes of training and preparation."
Arteta had begun his coaching preparations long before playing his final Arsenal game in the 2015-16 season. He spent time on Manchester City's coaching staff before returning to north London, and took charge of his 150th game in all competitions this season.
Xhaka has revealed he has worked with Arsenal's under-16s, with one of the youngsters - 15-year-old Ethan Nwaneri - making his senior first-team debut this season. "He looks old when I see him, but the club can be proud of a player like him," the Swiss international said.
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"Mikel Arteta, I learn so much from him," Elneny, one of the older members of the group, told the PFA in footage released in early December. "The players and the coach now, the things they give us and the understanding... makes me understand football much more.
"Now when I do the badges, it's so easy because I have all the knowledge inside me. The way I'm going to deliver to the boys, I'm really glad to work under Mikel because the knowledge about football is so good and the simplicity [with which] he gives it to us is unbelievable..
"He's worked with us for three years now, and the way he gives you the details about football, the way they understand the team we're going to play and the way you understand the football from his thinking, it's incredible. I just put my hand up because it's really genius."
As Arsenal's players plan for the future, they also have the present to contend with. Arteta's team resume their Premier League campaign at home to West Ham on Boxing Day, with a five-point lead at the top of the table before kick-off.
