Mikel Arteta is one of Barcelona’s targets to replace Xavi as the club’s next manager (Picture: Getty)
Barcelona are ready to admit defeat in their attempts to convince Mikel Arteta to leave Arsenal.
The Catalan giants were rocked last month when current manager and club legend Xavi confirmed his intention to stand down at the end of the season.
Barcelona have subsequently been linked with a string of high-profile candidates to replace the 44-year-old who mastermind last season’s title-winning campaign.
The likes of Thomas Tuchel, who is set to leave Bayern Munich in June, and Julian Nagelsmann are the current frontrunners and their chances of securing the job have been enhanced by Barcelona’s decision to abandon their interest in Arteta.
A product of Barcelona’s La Masia academy, Arteta still has strong connection to his boyhood club but is understood to remain fully committed to Arsenal.
The 41-year-old still has 18 months left on his current contract and appears in no hurry to leave having built a young squad that is again mounting a sustained challenge for the Premier League title.
Speaking about speculation linking him with a return to Barcelona recently, he said: ‘That’s totally fake news,’
‘What you read yesterday is … I don’t know where it is coming from, and it is totally untrue. I am really upset about it.
Mikel Arteta has been linked with a return to Barcelona to replace Xavi (Picture: Getty)
‘I could not believe [it]. I don’t know where it is coming from and it has no source. It has got nothing, and I think we have to be very cautious when you talk about personal things to put it in the way it was put yesterday.
‘I am in the right place. I am with the right people. I feel really good about it. As I said many times, I am invested in a beautiful journey with this football club, with these players, these staff, our people, and there is still a lot to do.
‘I am really cautious when I talk publicly about my personal things, and when someone puts a statement saying something I said or did, it is upsetting.
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‘I understand we are in this industry, but the second one, I don’t think anyone deserves to hear in news like that and I have always been really straight and always said the complete opposite; how happy I am, how grateful I am and how much I enjoy where I am now, that is why I am upset.’
According to Sport, after making initial contact they appreciate it would be extremely difficult to prise Arteta from the north London club, despite his increasingly precarious contractual situation.
Indeed, the Catalan outlet reports that president Joan Laporta has now informally asked Xavi if we could consider staying at Camp Nou for another season.
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