Mikel Arteta has 'no plans' to leave Arsenal at end of season | OneFootball

A report claiming that Mikel Arteta could sensationally quit Arsenal at the end of the season and join Barcelona as head coach has been downplayed. Catalan publication SPORT claimed that the Gunners boss could take over from Xavi after the former midfielder announced he would be stepping down from his role in the Nou Camp dugout at the end of the campaign.

Arsenal are embroiled in the Premier League title race against the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, and are still in with a chance of lifting the Champions League trophy in June after progressing to the knockout rounds with ease. Speculation that Arteta might step away from all the hard work and progress he's achieved with north London club since his appointment in 2019 was unexpected.

His Arsenal side came close to usurping Pep Guardiola's Man City team during the 2022-23 season, but the young Gunners squad fell short. After a strong summer rebuild that saw the likes of Declan Rice and Kai Havertz join the club, Arsenal have looked like serious contenders to lift the trophy that has evaded them for two decades - although other sides have also strengthened.

It's unlikely that the Spanish manager would be thinking about anything other than the job at hand, with several gruelling months still to come in his pursuit of adding to the three trophies he has won while in charge of the club he used to play for. An FA Cup and two Community Shields are the biggest achievements of his managerial career to date, but massive things are expected of Arteta going forward as he is still a very young boss.

Mikel Arteta Arsenal exit talked down

Barcelona's hunt for a new manager will begin after Xavi's announcement

While there is a clear connection between Arteta and Barcelona in the fact that he is from Spain, and anyone from the nation would feel honour and pride to be the main figurehead of the Catalan giants, his love for his current club is also just as evident.

According to Sky Sports News, there is no chance Arteta will be departing the Emirates upon the conclusion of the current season as the Spaniard is said to have 'no plans to leave'. The Gunners boss has a contract with his employers until 2025, and could even renew the terms by the time it expires.

He captained Arsenal as a player and now proudly leads the side out as the boss, and his impact on the team on the pitch and the club off it, has been nothing short of exemplary. The original report by SPORT had claimed that Arteta had told his entourage that he would be leaving the London-based club in the summer.

Other candidates for the Barcelona job

Including Arteta's old master

With it looking unlikely that Arteta will be available for the reigning La Liga champions, who else could the Spanish giants turn to? Pep Guardiola was the manager of Barcelona's greatest side of this generation, and there will always be a connection between the club and their former player.

Leaving the most dominant team in world football to take charge of a struggling super club such as Barcelona looks to be unlikely, but stranger things have happened in the world of football. Hansi Flick has been named as a front-runner for the upcoming vacant post, while Jurgen Klopp is likely to be one of the leading names for any job vacancies following his announcement that he will be leaving Liverpool. The German boss has said he will take a year out of the game before considering a new position, so that could also be another unlikely solution for Barca.