Pep Guardiola Confirms Mikel Arteta's Talks with Arsenal About Manager Role

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed his assistant Mikel Arteta has had talks with Arsenal about taking over as manager.

BBC Sport's Simon Stone relayed his comments:

Freddie Ljungberg has been interim boss at Arsenal since the club sacked Unai Emery on November 29.

Eleanor Crooks of the Press Association shared further comments from Guardiola on Arteta, who will travel with City to their Carabao Cup match against Oxford United on Wednesday:

Arteta spent the final five years of his playing career at the Emirates Stadium, making 150 appearances before he retired and joined City's coaching staff in 2016.

He explained his decision to do so in City's All or Nothing Amazon Prime documentary:

Per Sky Sports' Kaveh Solhekol, the Gunners heavily considered the 37-year-old as a replacement for Arsene Wenger before they opted for Emery instead:

Emery was relieved of his duties with Arsenal on a seven-match winless run.

Ljungberg has guided Arsenal to just one win in his five games in charge. On Sunday, the Gunners were comfortably beaten 3-0 by City, with Arteta watching on from the Sky Blues' dugout.

The Spaniard has no experience of being a No. 1, so his appointment would be a gamble. However, he is knowledgeable about the club and has spent three years learning from arguably the best coach in the world.

If Arteta takes over, he'll inherit a team 10th in the Premier League, 27 points behind leaders Liverpool and seven off the top four.