Manchester City assistant manager Mikel Arteta is "more than ready" to take over at Arsenal following Unai Emery's dismissal.
The Spanish coach spent five years at the Emirates Stadium as a before joining Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium following the conclusion of his playing days.
The former midfielder has been strongly linked with a move back to north London following Unai Emery's sacking and is the bookies' favourite, with Freddie Ljungberg currently in charge on an interim basis.
According to Guillem Balague, Arsenal's former captain is now ready to become the club's head coach following an impressive few years with Manchester City.
"First of all, he talks like a manager," Balague told FourFourTwo.
"People haven't really heard him talk as an assistant coach since he arrived at Manchester City nearly four years ago, but he's growing into the role.
"When he first came to City, the club weren’t sure about what he could do. But since then he's improved Leroy Sane, he's helped improved Raheem Sterling – he's got his own office in the training ground where he sits down and watches videos to understand the game.
"The thing that people may question about him is whether he's a leader. Just talk to David Moyes about whether he's a leader or not.
"There were conversations between the two at Everton about football but Arteta also told him how the group should be functioning.
"Then he went to Arsenal, which was a quiet group and one that's similar to the current squad now in terms of division, but him and Per Mertesacker led the way.
"They both got a lot out of the players that were there, fought for them and also fought against the players who didn't treat Arsenal well. He’s a top leader.
"He said no to Newcastle and Lyon and there have been other offers. But he’s more than ready to take over at Arsenal."
