Former captain Gary Neville has explained why Mikel Arteta could decide to leave this summer despite the recent progress at the Emirates.
Arsenal are the favourites to secure the final top-four spot in the Premier League, sitting three points above north London rivals Tottenham with ten games remaining.
A top-four finish would represent a remarkable turnaround in north London given Arteta’s side sat bottom of the Premier League after losing their first three matches of the season without scoring a goal.
But Neville believes this could be ‘as good as it gets’ for Arsenal and says Arteta may decide to leave the club this summer even if they finish fourth as the Gunners are ‘not going to compete’ with the likes of , and .
‘I really like Mikel Arteta, I think he’s a brilliant coach. I think the team is fantastic in terms of the young players they’ve got,’ Neville said at a fan debate.
‘But it’s interesting when you’re in a cycle of a club and you depress the ambition and have a significant period of failure because you then get really happy about finishing fourth.
‘I found myself saying that about Manchester United. But it’s because of a depressed ambition.
‘I think Mikel Arteta is a good operator. My concern is if Arsenal finish fourth this season – which to be fair, I think is 50/50, I still think there’s a long way to in that race – but if they finish fourth, that’s in some ways as good as it gets.
‘You’ve got Pep [Guardiola], [Jurgen] Klopp, Man United, Chelsea, where can Arsenal go? They’re not going to compete.
‘Mikel Arteta is a brilliant coach, I love that we’re seeing a team that he’s getting the maximum out of, I can see exactly how he wants to play, we all can.
‘But he gets to fourth [and] if he was really hard about it, he’d probably say “right, that’s the best I can do there, I’m going now and getting my next job”.’
Arsenal finished just eighth in Arteta’s first season at the Emirates but he only arrived halfway through the campaign following Unai Emery’s sacking and also led the Gunners to the FA Cup trophy.
Arteta was seemingly fighting to save his job after another frustrating campaign last year but the team are now thriving, winning six of their last seven matches.
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