‘I spoke to someone’: Journalist says he was told 18 months ago that Manchester City want key Arsenal man

Add as preferred source on Google

Speaking on The Athletic Football Podcast, Sam Lee has shared what he’s heard about Manchester City’s next manager and Mikel Arteta.

Pep Guardiola has now been at City longer than he’s been at any other club, and there has been plenty of discussion over the past two years about who will be replacing Guardiola at the Etihad.

Interestingly, Lee says that he spoke to someone who knows Guardiola closely 18 months ago, and he stated that both Mikel Arteta and Patrick Vieira were in the frame.

Vieira and Arteta admired by City

Lee shared what he heard about these potential Guardiola replacements

“What I would say at risk of making my answers even longer, about 18 months ago I spoke to someone who knows Pep and he knows what’s going on at City and we were speaking about who would be next, and he said that Vieira and Arteta would be in the frame. It’s funny how football works, Vieira now, you’d say no way and Arteta is almost too good, you can’t get him out of Arsenal with what he’s doing,” Lee said.

Things change

18 months ago, City may have had Arteta and Vieira earmarked as future managers, but it’s hard to imagine that this situation hasn’t changed since then.

Indeed, the landscape surrounding these two managers has shifted massively in this time.

Vieira’s stock has fallen off a cliff after he was sacked by Crystal Palace, while, as Lee says, Arteta is almost too good at this point to convince him to leave Arsenal.

Where City go after Guardiola remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, replacing Pep will be one of the toughest tasks that the reigning Premier League champions ever take on.