The nature of the Arsenal pursuit of Mikel Arteta could affect the club’s future dealings with Manchester City, according to reports.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 20: Josep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City and Mikel Arteta, Assistant Coach of Manchester City applaud fans during the Manchester City Teams Celebration Parade on May 20, 2019 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MAY 20: Josep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City and Mikel Arteta, Assistant Coach of Manchester City applaud fans. Manchester City Celebration Parade on May 20, 2019, in Manchester, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

The Standard claim Manchester City are ‘furious’ with the way Arsenal dealt with their approach for Mikel Arteta.

The two club hierarchies made no contact until the very end of the process, and Arsenal didn’t even indicate interest during their matchday meeting last weekend.

All the same, City won’t stand in Arteta’s way. They still maintain a positive relationship with their current assistant coach. Instead, the threat is that the saga could affect future dealings between the clubs.

I know what you’re thinking: What dealings?

City have shown a large amount of interest in Arsenal players over the years, but rarely the other way around. Let’s have a look at the list of transfers between the two clubs, per Transfermarkt.

Arsenal to Manchester City

  1. Bacary Sagna – 2014/15
  2. Samir Nasri – 2011/12
  3. Gael Clichy – 2011/12
  4. Emmanuel Adebayor – 2009/10
  5. Kolo Toure – 2009/10
  6. David Seaman – 2003/04
  7. Paul Dickov – 1996/97
  8. Eddie McGoldrick – 1996/97
  9. Niall Quinn – 1989/90
  10. Brian Kidd – 1976/77
  11. Dave Bacuzzi – 1963/64

Manchester City to Arsenal

  1. Tommy Caton – 1983/84

There was the brief hint of a deal between the two clubs a couple of years ago. City wanted Alexis Sanchez and Arsenal wanted Raheem Sterling in return.

However, the Manchester club put off their bid until the last day of the window. Then they refused Arsenal’s swap-deal counter offer.

More to the point, City sign most of their best players for around £50m-a-head. If they think Arsenal are going to come rushing in with a £50m bid for someone in January, they haven’t paid attention to the last few years of transfer windows.

Having said all that, there are two areas where City could impact Arsenal. One is the coaching staff, the other is with youth talent. If Arteta wants to take coaching staff with him to Arsenal, that could be problematic now. We’ll see on that front.

With youth players, again, it’s really not going to make much of a difference. The most high-profile player Arsenal wanted in recent years was Jadon Sancho, and City did everything they could to ensure the winger moved abroad instead.

Manchester City never had a good working relationship with Arsenal. Threats don’t often come this empty.