Stan Collymore has advised Mikel Arteta to position himself ‘front and centre’ to replace Pep Guardiola at Manchester City if Arsenal fail to back him in the January transfer window.
Arteta left City, where he served as number two to Guardiola, for Arsenal in December last year.
In that time, the former Gunners midfielder has led to club to FA Cup and Community Shield success.
But their start to the new Premier League season has been a slow one.
Arsenal spent around £80 million on summer signings but, according to Collymore, the London club must continue to fund Arteta’s rebuild or risk him going back to Manchester.
“Mikel Arteta will already have an eye on the next transfer window,” Collymore wrote in his column for The Daily Mirror (27 October, page 53). “And, I were him, I’d be saying to the Arsenal board, ‘Do you like the job I’m doing?’, and if the answer is yes, he should be adding, ‘Right, in that case, give me the money to push on’.
“And if he doesn’t get it and Pep Guardiola is eyeing an exit from Manchester City next summer, he should be putting himself front and centre to take over at the Etihad, because he will already be in the mix.”
Arteta spent three years on the Manchester City coaching staff, having retired from playing while at Arsenal in 2016.
The Basque’s new side were beaten on both of their trips to his former employers this year, by an aggregate score of 4-0.
Arsenal fans – what more does Arteta’s squad need?
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