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Man City were 'furious' with Arsenal for disrupting preparations for Premier League clash
Manchester City have been incensed with Arsenal's conduct regarding Mikel Arteta.
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Manchester City and Arsenal are set to battle once again this season and not just for the Premier League title this time, as the Gunners will be looking to usurp the defending European champions in the Champions League as Mikel Arteta and co set their ambitions high. It can come as no surprise, however, that the two sides may not be completely friendly as a result of Arteta’s return to north London.
Arteta spent over three years in the City backroom staff as Pep Guardiola’s assistant and had built his reputation up to a point where Arsenal were strongly considering hiring him to take over from Unai Emery despite never having been a head coach previously.
Arsenal did eventually hire Arteta and after some disruptive seasons, it proved to be the correct decision as he has transformed the team into title contenders. City were likely aware of Arteta’s ambitions to be a head coach one day during his time at the club, but they were certainly not happy by the manner of his departure in 2019.
The Manchester Evening News claimed at the time that City were furious with Arsenal for their attempts to lure Arteta away from Guardiola and their conduct in doing so. Instead of contacting the Gunners and asking for permission to speak with their coach, as is commonplace in the Premier League, they indirectly approached Arteta.
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Arteta took City training ahead of their upcoming match with Leicester, just hours after Arsenal officials were spotted leaving his home where they presumably discussed the prospect of Arteta taking over in north London.
This came only a few days after City’s top brass had been in the directors’ box at the Emirates to watch City claim a 3-0 win over Arsenal, but there had been no mention of any interest in Arteta and certainly no formal approach that perhaps may have been expected.
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Guardiola had already insisted that he would not stand in Arteta’s way, but expressed a desire for his number two to stay at City until the end of the season. But Arsenal wanted a new boss through the door immediately and one day prior to City’s win over Leicester, Arteta was named the new Arsenal head coach.
City were able to get the victory despite their preparation being hampered by Arsenal’s pursuit of Arteta, but they were bewildered by the nature of the move as City had already indicated that they would allow their Spanish coach to move on and realise his dream of a top job.
But Arsenal instead went about their business in a different way in order to lure Arteta back to the club, much to the frustrations of their Premier League rivals.