It was announced this week that Pep Guardiola would be extending his stay at Manchester to just shy of a decade, prolonging his contract an extra two years from 2023 to 2025.
The Catalan manager will likely have the choice of whether to stay or leave at the end of that spell again, but there are murmurs of who they might have in mind to replace Guardiola.
Former City assistant and Arsenal manager, who is challenging City at the top of the Premier League, is also out of contract in 2025. It is thought by Sport that they will try to bring him back to the Etihad at the end of his deal.
They will face competition though. Barcelona are keeping a close eye on Arteta and with admiring glances becoming more frequent, it seems increasingly likely that he will be given the chance to return to one of his former clubs in Spain.
This obviously depends on how things go at Camp Nou. Faith in Xavi Hernandez is not wavering, but should things take a turn, Arteta will no doubt be a prime candidate.
If Xavi does make it until 2025 as Barcelona manager, he will have been in the position for just over three-and-a-half seasons, a little under what Pep Guardiola managed at Camp Nou. Only Frank Rijkaard has lasted longer as Barcelona manager since Johan Cruyff left the job, which suggests that Xavi’s spell is unlikely to extend too far beyond 2025 if it does.