Mikel Arteta has confessed he misses his close friend Pep Guardiola - but he is ready to make his own name at Arsenal.
Arteta worked under Guardiola at Manchester City after hanging up his boots in 2016 and established himself as one of the most promising young coaches in football.
The Spaniard was duly appointed by Arsenal in December following the sacking of Unai Emery and he has lost just once since taking charge.
Arteta is close friends with Guardiola and spoke with him before he took up a new job at Emirates Stadium.
And when asked if he now misses Guardiola, Arteta replied: “Absolutely. I am a big friend of his and I admire him.
“I had a lot of joy working together and success. We spent a lot of time together and he is a friend.
“I have to apply my own things. He was part of my development as a person to go through a lot of things I experienced next to him.
“It was a privilege and of course a lot of the things I took on board, that I felt from my time at Barcelona, we shared together and a lot of things I learned from his management.
“I always talk with him. He is a really good friend of mine. I respect him so much. We share a lot of things in our life and we discuss everything.”
