In order to teach his players a lesson, Mikel Arteta put his own players through a strange test at an Arsenal team dinner.

The Gunners have come so close to winning the English Premier League each of the last two seasons, but they were not able to do so. Their return to the Champions League also ended in failure. 

Arsenal is one of the favourites to win the title again this season, and it looks like Arteta is doing everything he can to help his team win. 

The Athletic reported that Arteta hired a group of skilled thieves in secret to steal phones and wallets while he was having dinner with his first-team squad. 

The Spanish man told the players to empty their pockets when the meal was over. A lot of them then understood they were missing important things. It was said that this activity taught them how important it is to always be alert. 

Fans have had a pretty bad reaction to the lesson, but it’s not clear how well the stunt went over with the Gunners players that night. 

Arteta is not the first manager in the Premier League to get in trouble for a way they teach or motivate their players. In his famous first meeting with his team before a game as manager, Brendan Rodgers brought three packages with him and held them up to them. He told them that the names inside would let him down during the season.

Brad Jones, a former custodian for the Reds, said that the stunt immediately failed. 

He told the Liverpool Echo in 2022, “When he did it, while we were sitting and talking, he put the envelopes up, and you could see right through them because of the way the light hit them.” 

“I remember sitting there and thinking, “I don’t think those boxes have anything in them!”

Owen Hargreaves, a former player for Manchester United, said that the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson did the same thing in pre-season in 2007. However, he said that it had a good effect on the players, unlike when Rodgers did it later.

Arteta will hope that his trick will get the same results that Ferguson saw. Based on their most recent pre-season match, Gunners fans may be in for an exciting season.

Fans on X, though, weren’t sure. One fan on X wrote, “That’s how to build trust with your players: rob them all.” They added a laughing emoji to their post. 

“And they’ll never trust him again,” said someone else. A third person on the stage said, “Bro thinks Pickpocket will get them ready to win the league.”

Another shocked user on X asked, “How does this have anything to do with football or winning the league?””

Berlin winners Bayer Leverkusen were no match for Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday night. After that 4-1 win, they played Lyon on Sunday, just one day before their first Premier League game, which was against Wolves on August 17.