Pep Guardiola told Mikel Arteta to leave Manchester City to take the Arsenal job if he "felt it" within him.
The two were scheduled to go head-to-head for the first time on Wednesday before City's game against Arsenal was postponed over coronavirus fears. Arteta left his role as Guardiola's assistant in December to take over the reins at his former club.
Arteta was appointed to Guardiola's staff in the summer of 2016 and quickly rose to the role of assistant, with the Catalan always backing his No. 2 to become a No.1 in time.
Having been overlooked for the Arsenal job when Unai Emery replaced Arsene Wenger, Arteta couldn't turn down the chance to replace Emery just before Christmas.
Guardiola admits he's never tried to convince a member of his staff to stay if they've had an offer from elsewhere, and he told Arteta to follow his heart ahead of his departure.
"It happened in the past with my colleagues and my assistants. I never said, say or will say what they have to do. They have ambition, professional ways, families and everything," he said.
"So what I said to Mikel is: ‘Do you want to do it, do you feel it? Then you have to do it.’ He loves Arsenal, he was there many years.
"It was a dream from day one to come back there, this challenge came and he had to take it. I would not be the guy to say ‘no, no you have to stay’. I don’t believe that, I don’t like that.
"The fact for the contracts or do something when you are thinking of another job. The opportunity came and he took it."
