The Daily Mail are today reporting that Arsenal have told players at the club that Mikel Arteta is ’90 per cent certain’ to be the manager next season.

Both Ivan Gazidis, who wants to take more power at the cub for himself, and Josh Kroenke, who is being groomed as a future chairman of the club, are both said to be pushing for the Spaniard to take over from Arsene Wenger.

That means replacing Arsenal’s most successful manager in their 132-year history with a man who hasn’t managed a single minute of professional football.

While there were a number of more experienced candidates who were indeed interested in the job, Arsenal are opting hoping that Arteta will turn out to be another Arsene Wenger-type character who will emerge as a world class coach that stays at the club long-term.

Highly rated at Arsenal and Manchester City, it is clear that Arteta has something about him and out of all the managers who have been linked with the Arsenal job, I can get behind every single one of them as long as it isn’t Brendan Rodgers.

The Mail go on to say that the Arsenal board are expected to ratify the decision by the end of the week before it goes to Stan Kroenke to give the final approval.