The midfielder penned new terms yesterday.
Arteta said this morning: "I think there is no question about his contribution to the team - the way he feels about his team-mates, about the club, about the way we play. He is someone that makes everybody else better. That's his main quality.
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"He is still hungry, he wants to win, he wants to win with us. He's happy here, his family is happy so for us it was a really easy decision.
"He is a very important player because of the way he communicates, his understanding, the way he coaches people is excellent. You need those types of players but on top of that, as a model, it is very difficult to find someone that is better than him."