Pep Guardiola to Gift 'Good Friend' Mikel Arteta a Manchester City Defender: Report

Arsenal could make a move to sign Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo with manager Mikel Arteta eyeing to bolster his defence in the upcoming season. Canecello was loaned out to Bayern Munich last season after losing his place in Pep Guardiola’s starting eleven. After Munich became the Bundesliga champions, Fabrizio Romano, a transfer market specialist, revealed that the German club has no plan to sign a permanent deal with Cancelo. Amid this scenario, Barcelona has shown their interest in the Portuguese defender and might have to beat Arsenal in the race to acquire the signature of Cancelo.

One thing that could come in the way of Arsenal was Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola’s consent. But according to journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, it won’t actually matter as Guardiola considers Mikel Arteta a “good friend” after spending a significant period together at the Etihad, a report by The Top Flight said. The report further claimed that the City manager has immense faith in his team and can comfortably deal with Cancelo’s departure.

Guardiola has already turned his face from Joao Cancelo even though the Portuguese international was a regular in the City line-up at the beginning of the season. Apart from operating along the right wing, Cancelo was occasionally used as a centre-back and succeeded in demonstrating his versatility.

A couple of Manchester City products– Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus– were key in Arsenal’s exceptional run in the Premier League this season. The Gunners might have been beaten by City in the title race but managed to earn a Champions League qualification for the next season. Arsenal finished second in the Premier League standings this season. They fell just five points short of the champions of England, Manchester City, who are in the hunt of winning the treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.

Before returning to the major competition, Arteta will look to reconstruct his defence and Cancelo is expected to be a good choice in this regard. Besides the right-back, a veteran City midfielder, Ilkay Gundogan, has also come under Arsenal’s radar. But the club has not yet revealed their plans for him.