Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola endorses Mikel Arteta and ‘amazing’ Luis Enrique as candidates for Arsenal job

Arteta has been Guardiola’s assistant coach at Manchester City since retiring with the Gunners in 2016, and the 36-year-old has been linked with a return to the club he captained

Pep Guardiola has waded in on the debate over who the next Arsenal manager should be, saying Mikel Arteta deserves a chance and that Luis Enrique is an “amazing manager”.

Arteta has been Guardiola’s assistant coach at Manchester City since retiring with the Gunners in 2016, and the 36-year-old has been linked with a return to the club he captained after Arsene Wenger announced he will depart the Emirates at the end of the current campaign.

“I’m not the right guy to talk about that because my opinion of Mikel is overwhelming,” Guardiola said. “He deserves the best. We are so comfortable working with him, he is one of the reasons for our success this season.

“There are many names for the next Arsenal manager. I don’t know what their plans are but I know Mikel very well and he deserves all he wants.”

Another name in the frame for the Arsenal job is the former Barcelona manager Luis Enrique. Guardiola played with his compatriot on numerous occasions both with Barca and the Spanish national side. “He’s a top, excellent, amazing manager,” Guardiola enthused. “He can train wherever he wants and Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world.”

Guardiola was talking during his pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester City’s meeting with West Ham United this weekend. Despite already being named champions, Guardiola insisted that City will not be taking their eye off the ball.

“I said before: if you break the records, sooner or later they will be broken again. The records are not forever. If you have 95, 96, or 97, a team in the future will break. They just help us to keep focused on what we have to do. Playing football without any [motivation], you play lazy sometimes.”