Loyalty to Pep Guardiola was why I rejected Arsenal, reveals Mikel Arteta

After retiring as a player, Mikel Arteta was immediately hired by Pep Guardiola to become his assistant coach at Manchester City. Since then, Arteta has won a lot of plaudits for his performances with Guardiola even going to say that he would not be able to do his job, without Arteta’s help. This has seen the former Everton and Arsenal midfielder linked with managerial roles all over England.

Both Arsenal and Newcastle United have come after the Spaniard in the space of the last two years, but Arteta eventually ended up rejecting both clubs and opted to stay at Manchester City. Now in an interview with SER Catalunya, the 37-year-old has discussed why he decided to stay at the Etihad instead of joining either Arsenal or Newcastle.

“I was about to leave [for Arsenal], but I stopped myself. The first was different, the second was mostly me. Firstly, that I am not in a hurry and I have not felt that I need to take the step. There are important conditions, especially in a first experience for me, that are vital. I learned that these are essential to develop what you want, no matter how clear your vision is,” he told SER Catalunya.

“And the third is a matter of loyalty, when you promise someone to continue next year, with little time to manoeuvre, it was not appropriate to make that decision. And because I think we still have that space for improvement and that ambition to be able to do something we dream of, which is to win the Champions League. That work remains to be done.

“Winning the four domestic titles is something that nobody had done before and we did that with players who have a lot of development and improvement potential. And a group in which I am super comfortable. We have a staff environment where we are challenged daily but at the same time we have a very good human collective. And you are comfortable and have fun, and every day this good atmosphere helps a lot,” concluded Arteta.