Mikel Arteta mocked after hiring pickpockets to steal from Arsenal squad in bizarre exercise

Is it just us, or is football getting weirder? The kits are strange, the fans are even stranger and – on the latest evidence – the managers are the oddest of them all.

We’re talking about Mikel Arteta, who’s done a great job at Arsenal over recent years and is now employing (very) unusual methods to give his team the advantage as they try to beat Manchester City to the Premier League title.

Arteta got his squad together for a nice meal recently, but according to reports in The Athletic he employed some very strange tactics to teach his team a lesson.

According to the reports, Arteta hired a team of pickpockets to take phones and other valuables from the unsuspecting players while they sat together for dinner.

After the meal had finished, with players still not suspecting anything, Arteta told his team to empty their pockets – and many realised they were missing phones, wallets and other things.

You might think it sounds completely ridiculous (and we’d agree with you), but Arteta’s aim was reportedly to teach his players to always be alert and vigilant.

The news has sparked a big reaction on social media, and not many people saw the genius in Arteta’s actions.

Meanwhile, the best football league in the world starts later this month and now is the time to really start giving Fantasy Premier League (FPL) some attention.

The first game of the Premier League season is on August 16 when Manchester United take on Fulham under the lights at Old Trafford at 8pm.

Sign up for our free indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings