Pep Guardiola says he’s sure Mikel Arteta will be a manager, but he wants his assistant coach to stay with Manchester City for as long as possible.

With Unai Emery looking more and more unlikely to last until the end of the year at Arsenal, let alone the end of the season, the English media are starting to suggest names to replace him.

Mikel Arteta has been repeatedly linked with the Arsenal job, mostly on the basis that he was one of the leading candidates to take over from Arsene Wenger the first time around.

Pep Guardiola was asked about Arteta capacity to manage in his pre-Champions League press conference, and the Manchester City boss threw his backing behind his assistant coach.

“For sure he will be a manager,” Guardiola said. “I would like him to stay with us as long as possible. But personal life is personal life, his professional desire is professional.

“He was a holding midfielder, he had incredible vision on the pitch. He’s an incredible human being, he has a great work ethic. I said after a few months of being together that he would be a manager one day.”

It’s hard to say which direction Arsenal would go in if they did sack Emery in the near future.

They could go for a short-term internal promotion like Freddie Ljungberg, they could go for a wild card option like Arteta, or they could go for a big name like Massimiliano Allegri.

We’ve only seen the club make one head coach appointment in the last 20 years, so it’s difficult to predict exactly how they’re going to deal with the situation.

Arteta would certainly make for a popular appointment with the fans, given his history playing for Arsenal and the fact he’s been working under Guardiola for a few years now. For the moment, we’re still waiting on Emery’s departure before anything else.