Unai Emery took many people by surprise by addressing the media at Emirates Stadium in English, rather than his native tongue, for the vast majority of his opening press conference.
Read on for our new head coach's opening address as he discussed his appointment, Arsène Wenger and his ambitions.
"Good afternoon everybody - I am honoured to be here with you. Also thank you to the Kroenke family. We travelled to Atlanta for a meeting with the Kroenke family and for me it was a very good meeting, a very good conversation with him and with his son.
"Thank you also to the chairman and the board. We had a meeting on Monday morning with them and also I feel that they feel Arsenal with their heart. The conversations with the chairman and the board were very important for me. There’s no better club than Arsenal.
"Also thank you Ivan, thank you Raul and thank you Sven. The first meetings with Arsenal people were with these three people who, after three hours, I had a very good feeling about working together and that we could create a new present and future Arsenal.
"Thank you, Arsène Wenger, for your legacy. For all the coaches over the world, he’s a reference and I learned from him all the things in football.
"My English is not very good now and I want to make an effort to speak with you, to the supporters, to explain my ideas, to explain my ambitions, to explain that I am very excited about this opportunity. It’s a big club, a great city, a grand stadium and also has great players for this work. Thank you."
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
