Mikel Arteta cannot afford to repeat a mistake Pep Guardiola made at Manchester City for Arsenal in an upcoming transfer window.
The Gunners sit top of the Premier League table after eleven matches, although they’re now only four points clear of City after drawing with Sunderland at the weekend.
Many pundits believe Arsenal might now be anxious about the threat of City, who are being driven by a phenomenal season from Erling Haaland.
Arteta could inadvertently help close the gap with the Citizens by sanctioning an unexpected departure in January.
Arsenal cannot sell Ben White to Manchester City in January
Arsenal spent £250 million on eight new signings over the summer.
This has subsequently left Arteta’s squad somewhat bloated, and a symptom of this is that certain players aren’t being given as many minutes they’d expect.
Arsenal Insider revealed last week that Ben White is among those who is frustrated with his game time. The right-back has been limited to just one start in the Premier League, with the majority of his minutes coming in Europe and the League Cup.
Given the calibre of player White is, several top clubs are already monitoring his situation, including Atletico Madrid, Juventus and City.
Guardiola has used the likes of Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov and Rico Lewis at right-back this season, none of whom have established themselves as the clear first-choice option.
There is therefore a vacancy in this role at the Etihad that needs filling, and it appears that the City hierarchy feel White might be a suitable candidate.
However, Arteta simply cannot sanction this potential move. The Spaniard cannot strengthen Arsenal’s direct rivals in any way, and must refrain from whatever prospective offer City may be prepared to put on the table.
Pep Guardiola made this mistake with Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko
If Arteta does sign off on a White sale to City, then he’ll be repeating Guardiola’s mistake with Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
In the summer of 2022, after City had won the title and Arsenal had finished fifth, the former Barcelona boss sold Jesus and Zinchenko to the Gunners, for a combined fee of £75 million.
This turned out to be a huge error from Guardiola. The two players transformed the way Arsenal played, with Zinchenko’s inversion from full-back and Jesus’ elusiveness up front both pivotal aspects of Arteta’s team’s functionality.
The North Londoners went from challenging for a place in the top four to being title contenders, pushing City extremely close in the race for the league in the 2022/23 season.
In fact, Arsenal arguably would’ve won the title had William Saliba not sustained a season-ending injury in March, at the same time as Takehiro Tomiyasu.
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