Pep Guardiola has backed Mikel Arteta to succeed him when he eventually leaves Manchester City .
Guardiola has 18 months left on his current City deal, with his assistant Arteta touted as his potential successor.
Arteta has also been linked with the vacant Arsenal and Everton jobs, two of his former clubs, but Guardiola said his fellow Spaniard would be the ideal man to follow him at City.
Asked if he would recommend Arteta to succeed him when he leaves City, Guardiola said: "He's able to do that. But it depends on him, the club – many things that I cannot decide.
"He's ready [to be a manager]. It’s right when he has an offer and he accepts the offer.
But if you ask whether he's ready in his knowledge of the game, as a person, as a professional, then he's ready.
"I’m not a guy that puts a gun to the heads of my staff or players and says what they have to do.
"We're human beings and everyone has dreams and desires. Hopefully he can stay this season and the next one – as long as possible in this club.
"That would be my dream, but Mikel has his own life and I will never say what he has to do.
"I arrived here and we were in touch about working together and the time we've spent together has been magnificent.
"I tried to help him and he's helped me a lot. He knows what I want and what the club wants.
"Hopefully he will stay but, at the end of the season, I don’t know what's going to happen."
