Mikel Arteta has said that he has a clear conscience about the serious violations of financial rules by his former club, Manchester City.
An independent commission found that between 2009/10 and 2017/18, City artificially inflated their income by £830m. The club has filed a complaint and deny any wrongdoing.
The investigation covered two years in which Arteta worked as assistant manager Pep Guardiola but, in an otherwise guarded press conference, the Arsenal boss replied “yes” when asked if he had a clear conscience.
Arteta, which this week signed a new four-year contract as Arsenal managerfaced a series of questions about the City’s decision from reporters, but repeatedly insisted he would not comment further until the outcome of the City’s appeal was known.
“The thing is, this has been going on for different years,” he said.
“The process is still not over, so it’s very difficult to express how I feel because it is not resolved. When it is resolved, I can speak clearly and tell you exactly how I feel.
“I think that process has to be resolved in some way. And we have to trust that the people who are responsible for doing that will do it in the time frame that they believe is best for everybody.”
Arteta spent three-and-a-half seasons working with Guardiola, including the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, when City won Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups, before leaving the club to take charge of Arsenal in 2019.
Arteta worked with Pep Guardiola at Man City
According to the independent commission, City artificially inflated their sponsorship income by £264.3m during the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, a period during which their signings included John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Bernardo Silva, Ederson and Kyle Walker.
Arteta declined to comment when asked if his memories of working at City were tainted.
When asked if he was pleased to have won the Premier League title for Arsenal before the decision, he said: “I feel proud and very emotional when I think about how we won it, the moments we had together. It’s a unique and genuine feeling I have.”
Arteta: Premier League still the best in the world
Arteta insisted the Premier League will “100 per cent” continue to be the best league in the world, despite the integrity questions raised by City’s verdict.
“It’s the best league in the world for many reasons,” he added.
“I’ve been here for over 20 years and it will continue to be the best league in the world. I feel privileged to be where I am.
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Premier League managers including Frank Lampard, Marco Rose and Daniel Farke have their say
“And there are some clubs that have been extremely good and managed resources in an intelligent way. And we suffered from that a few weeks ago (with their defeat to Brighton).
However, following comments from Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner, who said the Premier League has been “damaged” by City’s guilty plea, Arteta admitted he was unsure about the impact on the competition’s reputation globally.
“I want to think it doesn’t (damage the Premier League), but I don’t know,” he said. “And it’s certainly not in our control.
“It’s in our control to bring everything we individually can to the club, to maintain the position we need to be the best league in the world.”
