Mikel Arteta

Mikel Amatriain Arteta (born March 28 1982 in Donostia, Basque Country (autonomous community), Spain) is a professional Spain football (soccer). He is an attacking midfielder player, currently playing in the FA Premier League for Everton F.C..

Early career

Arteta began his football career with the FC Barcelona B squad at 15 years of age. After 3 years of mediocrity he had a loan spell in 2000 with Paris Saint-Germain FC.

He joined Scotland club Rangers F.C. in 2002 for £6 million where he remained for two seasons, winning the 2003 Scottish Premier League title as well as the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup. Arteta enjoyed a successful first season at Rangers F.C. and quickly established himself as a first team regular and a fans favourite. However injuries and loss of form blighted his second season and he was forced to move on once again.

He joined Real Sociedad in 2004 as a replacement for Liverpool F.C. bound Xabi Alonso but failed to establish himself in the team.

Everton

In the 2005 January transfer window, Arteta was loaned out to Everton F.C. with a view to a permanent transfer if the loan went well.

Seen as a replacement for Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen, Arteta played a vital part in helping Everton achieve UEFA Champions League qualification. He scored his first Everton goal in the 4-0 demolition of Crystal Palace F.C.. Arteta sealed his permanent transfer to Everton that summer, putting pen to paper on a five year deal on the 15 July 2005 - for a fee of £2 million.

The 05/06 season saw Arteta pick up both the Everton Player of the Season Award (voted by the fans) and the Player's Player of the Season Award (voted by his teammates). The midfielder was notably delighted with the awards: "It means a lot when it comes from your teammates. It is a very special club, with special fans and special players. It is very difficult to find players like we have here and I am very happy to play at this club."

Arteta's good form extended into the 2006-2007 season, as well as retaining his starting place, he frequently turned in man-of-the-match displays, as underlined in the Premier League match against Bolton in which Arteta, sensing a scoring opportunity, fired the ball into the top corner of the Bolton goal to give Everton a 1-0 win. He finished the season with nine goals from the 35 league games he played.

At the end of the 06/07 campaign Arteta was awarded the Player of the Season Award for the second consecutive year. He was also voted the Premiership's 'Midfielder of the Year' by the readers of skysports.com, beating PFA Players' Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo.

On June 29 2007 Mikel Arteta signed a new 5-year deal with the club.

International career

Arteta has also played for Spain national under-21 football team, and his current form for Everton has been met with calls from manager David Moyes for him to be selected for the full national squad.

Trivia

- Arteta is close friends with Xabi Alonso, who plays for Everton's rivals Liverpool F.C. The two are neighbours in Liverpool's Albert Dock apartment complex.. Other neighbours include team mates Nuno Valente and Anderson Silva de França.

- Arteta's girlfriend is the former 'Miss Spain' Lorena Bernal.

- Arteta is multilingual speaking fluent Spanish, Basque, Catalan, English, French and Italian. He is also learning Portugese.