Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has attempted to prise Mikel Arteta from Manchester City, according to the Mirror.
The newspaper claim that the Spurs boss has made “made overtures to Arteta to join his coaching staff” at White Hart Lane after making a strong impression during his season-and-a-half working under Pep Guardiola at Etihad Stadium.
The Mirror report that the Spaniard, 35, rebuffed the advances of Pochettino as he is content at City but he has ambitions to be a manager in his own right one day.
It is said that Arsenal are keen to bring their former club captain on to Arsene Wenger’s coaching staff while Everton chairman Bill Kenwright put the former Toffees midfielder’s name forward to become their new manager before Sam Allardyce landed the job last month.
OPINION
To many observers, Arteta is just a familiar face on the City bench with whom Guardiola occasionally interacts during matches or hugs in celebrating one of the team’s many beautifully conceived goals. But the word on the street is that the former Arsenal and Everton midfielder is a savvy coach with a deep understanding of the game and who has been ‘Pep-ped’ during the last two seasons working under the greatest managerial mind of his generation. Little wonder that the Premier League big guns are falling over themselves to get some of what City have as they blaze a new trail in winning matches that has made the rest of the football word gasp in awe.