In the final months of his playing career two years ago, as he faced up to a losing battle with the calf and ankle injuries that had curtailed his final two seasons with Arsenal, Mikel Arteta found himself in demand. One offer was to join Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff at Manchester City. Another came from Mauricio Pochettino, who wanted to lure him to Tottenham Hotspur.

There was talk of finding a role for him at Arsenal, where some in the hierarchy shared Guardiola and Pochettino’s view of Arteta’s potential as a coach, perhaps even as a successor to Arsène Wenger in the longer term. A few options were discussed but, as Wenger said publicly at the time, “You cannot create artificial positions.” In any case,