Mikel Arteta is eager to launch another raid on Manchester City this summer to acquire Joao Cancelo - but the Spaniard is fearful that the Premier League champions could knock back interest from their title rivals.
Arteta, who spent over three years at the Etihad during his stint on Pep Guardiola 's coaching staff, lured Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to the Emirates from City last summer.
The duo went on to play a major role in the Gunners' unexpected title challenge. But after running City close this term, Arsenal believe their rivals could refuse to allow Cancelo to discuss a transfer to the Emirates.
The Telegraph reported Arsenal's interest in Cancelo earlier this week. The 28-year-old full-back is currently on loan at Bayern Munich but the German giants have decided against pursuing a permanent deal for the Portuguese international.
Arteta worked with Cancelo briefly before returning to Arsenal as manager in 2019 and is keen to bolster his full-back options in the summer. Cancelo, who is adept at playing on either flank, would be regarded as a major coup for the Gunners.
However, the report goes on to outline that there is a genuine 'fear' within the club that City will attempt to block any potential deal now that the Gunners have emerged as genuine title contenders.
Despite blowing a commanding eight-point lead at the summit of the Premier League over the course of the last few weeks, Arsenal have enjoyed their best domestic campaign in years and have already qualified for next year's Champions League.
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Arteta is expected to be handed a handsome summer transfer budget in a bid to strengthen his side for another title challenge next year.
The 41-year-old was under immense pressure last season when Arsenal imploded in the final weeks of the campaign and missed out on a top-four finish. But Arteta has silenced his critics in style this term - and he admitted that he has pinched one or two of the tactics deployed by his old mentor to help him take Arsenal to the next level.
When he was asked about Arsenal's penchant for utilising Zinchenko in an inverted wing-back position, Arteta said back in March: "It started when I was in Barcelona, we used to play a 3-4-3 diamond and one of the full-backs used to play there. But Pep did it at Bayern for the first time with Phillip Lahm and then that was developed at City with many different ways of doing it with different players.
"So that is the great thing, that you can take all [of] the time, things from other sports, other coaches to make yourself better and that curiosity is necessary to evolve and be better."
