The Gunners were one of six Premier League clubs to announce they had signed an agreement to form a new competition with other elite teams from across Europe.

The response from supporters and the wider footballing world was almost completely negative to the extent that, by Tuesday evening, Arsenal - as well as Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham - withdrew from the process.

Arteta said on Thursday that he had also had direct communication with the Kroenke family, who own the club.

Asked if an apology was forthcoming, he replied: "Yes, absolutely.

"They (the owners) have the maximum responsibility to run the football club and what they said was, 'apologies for disturbing the team, we did it without the capacity to communicate in a different way earlier and pass on my message to the players'.

"Vinai (Venkatesham, chief executive) spoke to me and explained a little bit what was happening. He was very clear and transparent with me. I understand the reasons why we could not know. We were not involved in the decision."

Meanwhile, Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti felt the Super League clubs were wrong to disregard the opinions of players and fans.

"My immediate reaction was they are joking, 'Is it a joke?'," he said.

"What can I say? They were wrong. The clubs were wrong because they didn't take into consideration the players, managers and supporters.

"They wanted to build a competition without sporting merit."

Australian Associated Press