Arsenal are confident of completing a deal to appoint Mikel Arteta as a permanent replacement for Unai Emery.
The former Arsenal midfielder held talks with Gunners managing director Vinai Venkatesham and club lawyer Huss Fahmy at his Manchester home during the early hours of Monday morning, and the north London side are optimistic of striking an agreement in the next few days.
Arteta spent five years in north London before leaving to become Pep Guardiola's assistant coach at Manchester City three years ago, with the 37-year-old playing a key role in the club's back-to-back Premier League titles.
The Spaniard was thought to be a serious contender for the Arsenal job in May 2018 when Arsene Wenger left the club, but the Gunners chose Emery after a lengthy interview process.
But Arteta now looks to be clear frontrunner to succeed Emery, ahead of the likes of Nice manager Patrick Vieira and Carlo Ancelotti who is in talks with Everton.
After Manchester City's 3-0 win against Arsenal on Sunday, Guardiola spoke about Arteta's future, admitting that there have been offers for him to leave in the past, and that he will decide his own future.
"He is part of the huge success we’ve had. An important important part," Guardiola said in an interview with Sky Sports.
"You know I think ultimately he knows because we’ve spoken two or three times on my opinion with him at the club about Mikel. What will happen will happen.
"I think he’s part of our staff so what is going to happen I don’t know. We talked. We’ve had offers. Had many offers. More than us.
"At the end it’s personal. If he wants to talk we’ll talk but it’s private. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable."
With Arteta linked to the post, Arsenal fans were given a reminder of his tactical acumen after a video from 2017 surfaced online.
In the clip, the City assistant coach can be seen in front of a screen explaining to his wingers - presumably Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva, the runs he wants them to make and how he wants them to receive the ball and escape their markers - which could bode well for Nicolas Pepe and Gabriel Martinelli.
Arteta previously spoke about how he and the other City staff had to iron out the bad habits in Sterling's game.
"He'd picked up a few bad habits along the way," he explained in a book titled 'Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam'.
"He'd played on the inside a lot or out on the left wing. When you move to the right wing, the direction and angle of possession coming to you is very different.
"When the ball reached him he really had his gaze fixed on it - rather than half-touch instinctive control and the vision of what's around him."
