Mikel Arteta sat side by side on the Man City bench with Pep Guardiola for three years tearing the English game apart, but now the Spanish coach is doing the same with Arsenal, and the Man City boss has opened up about letting his friend go in 2019.
Between 2016 and 2019, Arteta and Guardiola won everything there is to win in England and the 40-year-old received a stellar education watching the former Barcelona boss operate every day.
That education from the world’s best manager is now paying off, and having mixed in his own ideas, Arteta now has Arsenal top of the Premier League and preparing to face Man City in the FA Cup on Friday night.
Ahead of that match at the Etihad, Guardiola has said that he had to let Mikel Arteta leave Man City to manage Arsenal because he could not stand in the way of his friend and former assistant’s dreams. The City boss also revealed the moment he realised the former Arsenal star was always going to return to his old club.
Speaking ahead of Man City’s match with Arsenal on Friday, Guardiola said that he knew Arsenal had a place in Arteta’s heart when he did not celebrate the goals City scored against the Gunners.
The former Barcelona coach explained via the Independent: “Everyone has dreams and I know he went to his club, the team he dreams of. He is a supporter of Arsenal, from the fact he played there and loves the club. When we score a lot of goals here, always he jump up and celebrate, except against one team, then I jump and he was just sitting there.
“It was Arsenal and I say: ‘That guy likes Arsenal.’ I am not the person to stay you have to stay here, you have a contract. You have to fly. Life is too short.”