Guardiola determined to keep Borrell amid Arsenal links

Manchester City lost one trusted ally of Pep Guardiola to Arsenal. The manager does not want a second to take the same path as Mikel Arteta.

Published : Dec 21, 2019 10:32 IST

Pep Guardiola speaks to assistant Rodolfo Borrell.
Pep Guardiola speaks to assistant Rodolfo Borrell.
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Pep Guardiola speaks to assistant Rodolfo Borrell.

Pep Guardiola is keen to avoid losing a second assistant to Arsenal after indicating Rodolfo Borrell has a big role to play at Manchester City.

Back-to-back Premier League champion City is seeing its crown slide this season, with Liverpool seemingly striding away towards trophy glory.

And it suffered a fresh setback when Mikel Arteta was tempted away by Arsenal this week, with Guardiola's de facto number two landing the head coach role at Emirates Stadium.

Guardiola made no secret of his wish for Arteta to stay with City, but after three-and-a-half years of learning the ropes in Manchester, the 37-year-old saw his future in north London.

Reports have linked Borrell with Arsenal too, with suggestions Arteta may see him as the perfect second-in-command.

Read: Guardiola wishes 'excellent coach' Arteta well at Arsenal

However, Guardiola is not minded to allow former Barcelona youth coach Borrell, who played a role in nurturing the early career of Lionel Messi, to follow the same path as Arteta.

Former City youth coach Borrell will effectively take on Arteta's old job, the 48-year-old working more closely with Guardiola than before.

"From now on he will stay with me. We don't have any approach from Arsenal," Guardiola told reporters at a news conference.

Guardiola has ruled out bringing in a replacement from outside to take Arteta's place before the end of the season.

He said: "Until summer we are going to continue in this way."

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