Gary Neville has suggested Mikel Arteta ought to leave Arsenal should they finish fourth this season as it is likely to be as far as he can take the club.
The Gunners have improved markedly under Arteta and outperformed expectations to sit in pole position to claim a Champions League place with just ten games to go.
Neville spoke of his admiration for the Spaniard’s work, but claimed that “if he was really hard about it” he would walk away in the summer should they claim fourth because the north Londoners are “not going to compete” with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea above them next season.
“I really like Mikel Arteta, I think he’s a brilliant coach. I think the team is fantastic in terms of the young players they’ve got,” Neville said during The Overlap fan debate.
“But it’s interesting when you’re in a cycle of a club and you depress the ambition and have a significant period of failure because you then get really happy about finishing fourth.
“I found myself saying that about Manchester United. But it’s because of a depressed ambition.
“I think Mikel Arteta is a good operator. My concern is if Arsenal finish fourth this season – which to be fair, I think is 50/50, I still think there’s a long way to in that race – but if they finish fourth, that’s in some ways as good as it gets.
“You’ve got Pep [Guardiola], [Jurgen] Klopp, Man United, Chelsea, where can Arsenal go? They’re not going to compete.
“Mikel Arteta is a brilliant coach, I love that we’re seeing a team that he’s getting the maximum out of, I can see exactly how he wants to play, we all can.
“But he gets to fourth [and] if he was really hard about it, he’d probably say, ‘right, that’s the best I can do there, I’m going now and getting my next job’.”
