Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola share a lot of similarities.
The two Spaniards worked together at the Etihad before Arteta was appointed as the heir to Unai Emery’s throne at the Emirates Stadium.
The 43-year-old has done a phenomenal job at Arsenal, but he has lost the Premier League title to Guardiola on two occasions.
The City boss is arguably the best manager in world football, and Jamie O’Hara believes he gets away with a few things because of that.
Arteta, however, doesn’t have that luxury.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta would get ‘sacked’ if he did what Pep Guardiola has done at Manchester City
Manchester City didn’t have a great 2024/25 season.
The Sky Blues looked nothing like their usual selves for large parts of the campaign and finished without any silverware.
Pep Guardiola splashing huge money on new players in the January transfer window didn’t help, and he is set to spend even more this summer.
As new players come in, the older ones need to be moved on, and the player set to leave Manchester City now is Jack Grealish.
Guardiola seems to be ready to get rid of the Englishman, who is still City’s club-record signing. O’Hara thinks Mikel Arteta would get sacked if he did something like that with Arsenal’s most expensive recruit.
He said on talkSPORT: “Just on this Jack Grealish one, mate, I’m a bit annoyed at Pep. I think he’s like a spoilt brat, Pep. He’s a spoilt brat, mate, honestly.
“He spent £100 million on Jack Grealish, ruined him as a football player. Jack would look at it and say ‘I won the treble that season’, but he hasn’t really done much there at that football club, and Pep now wants to bin him, just get rid of him.
“He spent £100 million on him. If that happened with Declan Rice at Arsenal, Arteta would get sacked. Pep gets away with it because he’s Pep.”
The difference between Arsenal and Manchester City’s board
Arsenal and Manchester City don’t have the same resources.
The Sky Blues have extremely wealthy owners and have shown over the years that they have no problem spending massive money.
Arsenal, on the other hand, have to be a lot smarter with the way they spend – sometimes, the Kroenkes don’t even invest.
That happened in January this year. Arteta pleaded for a new attacker in the winter window after injuries hit Arsenal hard, but the decision-makers at the club didn’t sign a single player.
In the same window, Manchester City’s board handed around £180 million to Guardiola to sign three players to save their terrible season (ESPN).
That, sadly, is the difference between the two clubs’ financial muscle.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
