Manchester City have confirmed Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has joined them, not as a player, but as a coach.
The Spaniard will join Pep Guardiola's back room staff as the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager was unveiled in front of City fans on Sunday. Arteta has ended his playing career with the north London club and Arsene Wenger has decided to allow his player leave the club on a free transfer.
City confirmed his official title will be the assistant coach. A statement on their official website read, "Manchester City are delighted to confirm Mikel Arteta has joined Pep Guardiola’s backroom staff."
"He is the first member of the new-look coaching staff to be officially announced with the remainder of the staff to be revealed shortly."
Arteta has enjoyed his time in the Premier League as a player with Everton and then at Arsenal. He was the north London club's captain last season, but has failed to feature regularly for them.
Also read: An open letter to the peerless Pep Guardiola
He confirmed that he has officially ended his playing career and just months later, he will get into management. He will continue in England's top flight club competition and has expressed his delight after joining Guardiola's backroom's staff.
“Following recent media speculation surrounding my future I can confirm that I will be leaving Arsenal and retiring from playing to take up a coaching position at Manchester City," Arteta revealed.
“I’ve enjoyed an amazing five years at Arsenal and it’s been an honour and a privilege to captain such a great club.
“Throughout my career, I have been interested in more than just the playing side and have had a passion to develop and progress the team outside of my own role as a player.
“Coaching has been something I’ve always been keen to go into and I’ve worked hard off the pitch as well as on it to develop my skills in order to put me in a position to be able to pursue a coaching role once I finished playing.
“I’ve been lucky enough to work under some amazing coaches during my career and I hope to use the elements of everything I’ve learned from them as well as my own playing career to help City achieve success.
“I am now looking forward to the challenge ahead at Manchester City. The opportunity to join Pep Guardiola and his team was an amazing opportunity for me and I am incredibly excited for the future.”
