'Absolutely he is my friend & I admire him' - Arteta admits he misses Guardiola

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted he misses Man City boss Pep Guardiola.

“Absolutely and I admire him," Arteta replied when asked if he misses Guardiola.

“I had a lot of joy working together and success. We spent a lot of time together and he is a friend.

“I have to apply my own things. He was part of my development as a person to go through a lot of things I experienced next to him.

“It was a privilege and of course a lot of the things I took on board, that I felt from my time at Barcelona, we shared together and a lot of things I learned from his management.

“I always talk with him. He is a really good friend of mine. I respect him so much. We share a lot of things in our life and we discuss everything.”

Guardiola recently spoke in glowing terms about the relationship the pair had, too, and revealed that they remain in regular contact.

“It was an incredible relationship,” Guardiola said in January. “We are in touch quite often by phone.

“He's so excited, so happy, struggling because it is always not easy to take a team in the beginning. But he is doing incredibly well, off and on the pitch. He decided to move. For people I love, I always want the best and he decided that. I wish him all the best. He knows that.”