Man City's alleged rule breaches created a wild Mikel Arteta what-if

The reason why Man City's charges have put the football world into a frenzy is because of the potential repercussions that come with what happens next. However, we must also think about how the football world could have looked different in 2026 had Man City stuck to the rules - The biggest 'what if?' of them all involves Mikel Arteta.

Arteta took charge of Arsenal just before the 2020 New Year, certainly signalling a new era at the club. When he took over, he needed no introduction to Arsenal fans. After all, he had captained them for many years in the Premier League under Arsene Wenger.

However, there was still a level of uncertainty about the hire. This would be Arteta's first managerial role, and the only thing we knew about him was that he learned as Pep Guardiola's assistant coach at Man City.

If Man City hadn't breached the financial rules, they probably wouldn't have attracted Pep Guardiola. Obviously, it's a 'what if?' and nothing can be said for certain, but heck, everybody knows Man City's fast-track route to success is what led the best coach (and players) in the world to the club. That's not exactly rocket science.

How Man City's breaches may have led Mikel Arteta to Arsenal

So, do Arsenal fans have Man City's rule break to thank for Mikel Arteta becoming Arsenal manager?

The answer to that is yes, but with an asterisk (how ironic!) Arteta would have always been Arsenal's manager in the long run - it was pretty obvious he always had a return to Arsenal on the cards - but working under Guardiola at Man City certainly fast-tracked Arsenal's decision to hire him.

Many people will remember, but when Unai Emery was in the process of being replaced at Arsenal, it was a toss-up between Max Allegri and Mikel Arteta. I will admit that I was very firmly in the Allegri camp at the time, but I was proven wrong, and I will gladly eat my words now.

At the time, had Arteta not been Man City's assistant manager, he would have been far less likely to be in Arsenal's consideration, let alone actually land the job.

Now, there is a big caveat to this. In the same way we argue Arteta was holding out for Arsenal, we could hazard a guess that Guardiola was holding out for Arteta. Therefore, even if it wasn't at City, Guardiola might have picked Arteta at whatever club he'd be at in this hypothetical world.

My prediction is that Guardiola would have only managed Man United had it not been for Man City - I know, it feels weird to think about that, right? If that prediction, which is based on nothing other than hindsight blindsight and gut feeling, then I'd like to think Arteta wouldn't accept any role at Man United, given the time period he became an Arsenal cult hero in.

Man City was the safe bet, after all. Nobody really hated innocent Man City - until now, of course.

While Arteta was always headed Arsenal's way, the opportunity might not have opened up for him at the time it did had it not been for Man City hiring Pep Guardiola. So, Man City might have ruined football - but they gave Arteta (and Arsenal) the keys to save it.

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