Pep Guardiola has no doubt Manchester City already have the ideal successor for him at the club in his current assistant boss Mikel Arteta. Former Everton and Arsenal midfielder Arteta, who has been working under Guardiola since 2016, recently said he had turned down offers to take over as manager elsewhere to stay with the Premier League champions.
The 37-year-old Spaniard was heavily linked with a return to Arsenal when Arsene Wenger left the club last year but the job eventually went to former Paris Saint-Germain head coach Unai Emery.
Guardiola has always maintained he is happy as City manager and is contracted at the club until 2021, but when he does move on he believes Arteta would be good enough to step up. Whether the club’s hierarchy has Arteta in mind when Guardiola does depart remains to be seen, but he has been given a ringing endorsement from his boss.
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Guardiola said of his countryman: “He’s an incredible human being, with incredible values about what it means in the locker room and to be together. “He is already an incredible manager and he’ll have incredible success in his future.
“I’m pretty sure (he could succeed me), yes. But he decided to stay – thanks – but everyone decides what they’ll do in the future. Sooner or later it’s going to happen. “He’s a young manager but he has experience already to handle big players and teams.”
Arteta, who also played for PSG, Rangers and Real Sociedad after coming through the Barcelona youth ranks, moved straight into coaching under Guardiola after hanging up his boots three years ago and is said to share the same footballing philosophy with the current City boss.
Meanwhile, City will hope to get back to winning ways in the Premier League on Saturday following last week’s shock defeat at Norwich as they host bottom side Watford.
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