This Sunday's crunch north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham is set to be Sterling's first in the Gunners squad after sealing a loan move from Chelsea.
The England international had been jettisoned by the Blues and desperate to find a move elsewhere.
Arteta, who was Manchester City's assistant manager during Sterling's time up north, picked up the phone and offered him the lifeline of joining Arsenal.
Arteta said: 'The first call I had with him, I knew in the first ten seconds we have to bring him because he really wanted it. That was my only question mark: "What stage is he at in his career?"
Mikel Arteta revealed he decided to sign Raheem Sterling at Arsenal seconds into their talk
'After 10 seconds, I knew already before the next questions that we needed him here.
'What I see is hunger. He's a player that wants to play every minute of every game.
'You can feel it walking through the door. We are better with him. He's going to make us better.'
Arsenal are nervously awaiting the results from further tests on Martin Odegaard's ankle injury.
The Gunners captain sprained his ankle playing for Norway on Monday and was seen boarding a plane back to London with crutches.
Some reports have suggested that 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri could be handed a shock start, replacing the Norwegian.
On whether he would have any qualms of throwing the teenager into such a big fixture, Arteta added: 'We have to adapt to throughout the season (because of injuries).
'It has happened very early, since the second game. The bench against Brighton was very different to the one we probably all expected.
'We have to face it and use the opportunity as the kids have given us a lot of hope and right reasons to count on them. If we have to then we will, for sure.'