Manchester City would not welcome an approach from Newcastle United for assistant Mikel Arteta, according to the Chronicle.
The 37-year-old Spaniard has been linked with the vacant manager’s job at St. James’ Park after it was confirmed that compatriot Rafa Benitez would be leaving the club.
But the report claims that while Arteta has ambitions of becoming a number one at some point, the Premier League champions would not be receptive to any kind of approach from the Magpies.
OPINION
This is a bit of a kick in the teeth, truth be told. Arteta may not have had a manager’s job before, but he has learned form the very best under Pep Guardiola, and there is a general consensus that he could be being groomed to one day replace the great man at City. You can understand, therefore, why they are keen to keep him, but the fact of the matter is that even if City were open to letting him go, United could struggle to draw him away. Arteta still has two years left on his contract at the Etihad, and that would mean that a compensation package would have to be agreed before he was allowed to leave the north west. Up until this point, every manager Mike Ashley has appointed during his tenure has been a free agent, meaning that he has never had to fork out before. Given his stubborn negotiation style and propensity for penny-pinching, Ashley could well prove to be his own biggest obstacle in the hunt for a new boss. The likelihood is, that man won’t be Arteta.
