Mikel Arteta agrees to become new Arsenal manager despite Man City's Pep Guardiola promise

Arsenal are set to officially make Mikel Arteta their next manager with the Spaniard having agreed to take up the vacant Emirates hotseat.

Posted Wednesday, December 18, 2019 by Express.co.uk

Mikel Arteta agrees to become new Arsenal manager despite Man City's Pep Guardiola promise (Image: GETTY)

Mikel Arteta has agreed to become Arsenal's next manager following recent talks and the north London club hope to have him installed for their Premier League showdown with Everton on Saturday (12.30pm). He will replace Unai Emery, who was sacked after 18 months in charge having gone eight games without a win before his demise.

The Gunners have stepped up their search for a new permanent boss in recent days with interim Freddie Ljungberg having failed to stop the rot at the Emirates since Emery was sacked at the end of November.

Arsenal have only won one of their five games across all competitions under Ljungberg and were thrashed 3-0 by Manchester City last Sunday.

That has led them to ramp up talks and they held a second meeting with Arteta at his Manchester residence just hours after their defeat to City, where the Spaniard currently serves as assistant manager to Pep Guardiola.

The 37-year-old will be on the bench on Wednesday night when City face Oxford United in their Carabao Cup quarter-final at the Kassam Stadium.

But that is likely to be the final time Arteta sits alongside Guardiola in the dugout, report the Daily Mirror, because the former midfielder has agreed to take the vacant Arsenal job.

Arteta, who spent five seasons as a player at Arsenal and retired at the Emirates three years ago, is expected to pen a three-and-a-half year deal.

That is after club chiefs had in-depth discussions with the coach, who has never had a senior role in management but has operated as Guardiola's right-hand man for his trophy-laden Etihad spell.

Arsenal director Josh Kroenke, the son of owner Stan Kroenke, has flown back to the United States with the formalities all but done, barring an official announcement.

The Mirror claim that Arteta will be given some freedom to construct his backroom staff and is free to chose his own assistant.

It is also claimed that assistant first-team coach Rodolfo Borrell, who has previously worked at Barcelona under Guardiola and Liverpool under Rafa Benitez, is wanted by Arteta at the Emirates.

Guardiola, who has a high opinion of Arteta, is confident that he's ready for the step up.

It was always City's plan for his first job to be in Manchester and it is said that Arteta was promised by the City hierarchy last year that he would be made Guardiola's successor whenever the ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss departs.

But while the Catalan's contract expires in 2021, Arteta has chosen to accelerate his move into management - and he's been given a ringing endorsement by the man he's leaving behind to move back to London.

Guardiola said: "We were smart to pick him up. He's an incredible person, a good manager with a work ethic. That's why he has been with us.

"He's talking with Arsenal so I don't know what is going to happen. I knew about it [the meeting]. He was incredibly honest and transparent with me. He is travelling [to Oxford], yes.

"It happens [that backroom staff members leave], we had [head physio] Lee Nobes went to Liverpool and now teams want Mikel.

"He knows exactly what we want, what we'd like, but at the end it's his decision."

In an earlier press conference last week, Guardiola said: "You can be 45 years old and not be ready or be 35 year old and be ready, only he knows.

"I've spoken about the situation a few weeks ago, there's no more to add. I said two weeks ago, he's got two weeks' more experience, so he's ready."

And ex-Arsenal striker Charlie Nicholas is excited by Arteta's return, telling Sky Sports: "Obviously Mikel Arteta has been a captain at the club, he knows how to lead the team, in my opinion he's worked under the best coach on the planet.

"Pep Guardiola said yesterday he believes he's ready to be a No 1, then let's get the deal done. I would be very excited about the prospects of this.

"I think there's a question mark beside it because it will take him time. He will have to identify, and obviously he's seen it first hand yesterday, how bad Arsenal truly are at the moment, how low they've become.

"The confidence has drained, even the forward players don't look exciting, the choice of team is all over the place. They're a broken team, they're a broken club at the moment and someone has to repair it.

"What I would say is there is some fine young talent there, so you can work on the basis of that. He'll have to add to it, there's no doubt about that also.

"Yes it's a risk but Unai Emery came from PSG and he ended up not being very good for us to take us forward. So it's a risk we have to take. We have to get a manager in and we have to do it now."