The mutual respect between Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta is exactly what you would expect given a pair of Catalan-born tacticians dominated the Premier League during their time together at Manchester City.
But while Pep and Mikel are more Bez and Shaun than Liam and Noel, there’s one thing that could drive an Isle of Wight-sized wedge between them.
After all, the prospect of Eric Garcia following in Arteta’s footsteps, from the Etihad to Arsenal, would surely drive Pep into one of those face-rubbing, head-scratching tizzies we have become accustomed to seeing on the City sidelines.
Guardiola has made no secret of his desire to keep one of Europe’s most talented young defenders in the north west for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, it appears Garcia sees things differently.
“He wants to leave but maybe we can seduce him to extend his contract with us,” Guardiola told the Sun in the summer.
Garcia has so far rejected the opportunity to extend his current deal beyond next summer.
The Spain international looks unlikely to take the Gerard Pique route to Barcelona any time soon, with the cash-strapped La Liga giants lurching from a sporting crisis to a financial catastrophe t.
However, a chance to reunite with Arteta again at Arsenal would undoubtedly appeal – even if the Gunners are closer to the relegation zone than the top four (Sun).
As Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles will tell you, Arteta shares his mentor’s propensity for putting faith in youth.
And Garcia, available for a bargain £13.5 million, would stroll into Arsenal’s creaking back line while forging a potentially formidable, and generation-defining, partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Every time he plays at an incredibly high level. He doesn’t make mistakes,” Guardiola told Man City’s official website of a teenager who featured in 13 Premier League games last season.
In fact, the former Barcelona boss could only recall one player who had shown such an understanding of a game and a thirst for knowledge at such a young age – Sergio Busquets.
“Eric is a guy who likes to know why. Why? Why the reason why? When he makes a mistake he understands quickly,” Guardiola adds (Goal).
“He will continue to make mistakes, of course. But when you have a guy who knows how to be stable – it’s important to be stable if you are a central defender. He’s always a seven or eight, not make an incredible performance but not make a lot of mistakes. And Eric in this situation as a young player is always stable.”
That burning desire to learn from his mistakes would come in handy at an Arsenal side with an exasperating tendency to repeat the same glaring errors again and again.
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