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Mikel Arteta took the Arsenal job after failing to get assurances from Manchester City that he would be Pep Guardiola’s successor.

Arteta, as Guardiola’s No.2, believed that he would be the natural choice to take over from the Catalan when he eventually leaves the Etihad after spending the last three years on City’s backroom staff.

But when we reported in September that Dutchman Giovanni van Bronckhorst had been given an access-all-areas role at the club as the Premier League champions began to prepare for life after Guardiola, the 37-year-old Spaniard asked City bosses for guarantees that he was next in line.

He was disappointed to be told that no such promises would be made.

The belief at City is that Arteta is one of the game’s brightest young coaches.

(Image: PA)

But the Premier League champions made it clear that appointing a managerial novice to take over from Guardiola is unlikely to be an option.

When Arsenal came calling after Unai Emery’s sacking, Arteta felt the opportunity to take over at his former club was too good to turn down.

City’s decision not to appoint a new No.2 for Guardiola following Arteta’s departure has not come as a surprise to some insiders at the Etihad.

As first suggested by Mirror Sport in November, the two-year contract Guardiola signed in May 2018 does include a break clause which would allow him to leave the club this summer.

And that escape route means recruiting an outsider to join the first-team coaching staff was always going to be an unlikely option.

City are angry at the way Arsenal recruited Arteta without first approaching them for permission to speak to the former Gunners midfielder.

The London club took a similar approach in the summer of 2018 when Arteta was in the frame to replace Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal held talks with the Spaniard without first getting consent from Etihad bosses before eventually opting to appoint Emery.