Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has praised the impact Scottish giants Rangers had on his career, believing they shaped him for the English Premier League.

 

Arteta turned out for the Ibrox outfit when he was just 19 years old and spent two years plying his trade in the Scottish Premier League.

 

The pass-master headed back to Spain with Real Sociedad in 2004, but his spell in Scotland has continued to be something which he remembers fondly and credits with improving him as a player.

 

"In my second year at Paris Saint-Germain we played Rangers in the Champions League at Ibrox", Arteta told Arsenal’s official site.

 

"I was really impressed with the stadium and everything that went with it.

 

"In February that year they came over and said they wanted to sign me. At the time I was only on loan in Paris and Barcelona wouldn’t sell me to another Spanish club.

 

"It wasn’t easy to find another club like that because they were asking for quite a lot of money for me for my age.

 

"So I took the chance to go there. At that moment, Rangers were a big club, with big players playing in the Champions League.

 

"But Scottish football was tough, really tough.

 

"It was really physical, people got at you and I had to improve on that a lot. I think I did that to get to the level that the Premier League required of me."

 

Latest Features: