Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has called for Mikel Arteta to be 'brutal' when rebuilding his squad at Arsenal, following in the footsteps of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Arteta has inherited a squad at the Emirates Stadium that is in need of significant improvement as they are midway through their third season outside of the Champions League, with a lot of work to be done if they are to return to Europe's elite competition next season.
The Spaniard is presented with his first opportunity to rejuvenate his side during next month's transfer window and Neville believes outgoing deals need to be focused on.
As he identified, his mentor Guardiola was ruthless when he arrived at City, ousting the likes of Joe Hart, and Neville has called for Arteta to adopt a similar approach.
"Mikel Arteta has got some big decisions to make in his first couple of months. He’s got to be brutal," he told Sky Sports' Goals on Sunday.
"He’s obviously got good experiences with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, he’ll remember the great football and the trophies, but he almost what remember what Pep was like in terms of dismissing players that didn’t fit what he wanted and he did that very much in his early days.
“You think back to what he did with his full-backs after the first season, they all went.
"Joe Hart in the early days, he has to do that at this football club because there are some players out there.
"Mesut Ozil is a continuous problem, you’ve either got to build around him and make him the focal point of the team or get him out of the football club.
"My view is that you have to make a big decision around him.
"He’s a talented player, so if you’re going to build around him then great, but if not, you have to make sure he leaves and the boardroom might have to take a financial hit on that.”
