Sunday 3 July 2016 13:02, UK
Mikel Arteta has announced his retirement from playing and will take up a coaching role under friend Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Sky sources reported last month that the 34-year-old held talks with city and been offered a role by Guardiola, who will be officially unveiled as the club's new boss on Sunday.
After a 17-year professional career, which never included a cap for Spain, he confirmed: "I will be leaving Arsenal and retiring from playing to take up a coaching position at Manchester City
"I've enjoyed my amazing five years at Arsenal and it's been an honour and a privilege to captain such a great club. I would like to personally thank the manager, board, all of my team-mates and, of course, the fans for the fantastic support I've received during my time.
"I am now looking forward to the challenge ahead at Manchester City. The opportunity to join Pep Guardiola and his team was an amazing opportunity for me and I am incredibly excited for the future.
"I have always been interested in more than just the playing side and have had a passion for helping and develop the team outside of just my own role as a player. Coaching has always been something I've been keen to go into and, over the past few years, I've worked hard off the pitch to develop my skills to put me in a position to pursue a coaching role, once I have finished.
"I have been lucky enough to play under some amazing coaches and managers during my playing career and I hope to use elements of everything I've learned from them as well as my playing experience to help City achieve success."
Arteta was a product of Barca's famous La Masia academy but only ever played for the B and C sides before a loan move to Paris Saint-Germain in the 2001-02 season.
He joined Rangers in 2002 and impressed in a two-year spell before returning to Spain for an ill-fated season with Real Sociedad, which included a loan back to the UK with Everton that was made permanent in the summer of 2005.
After signing for just £2m, Arteta went on to play over 200 times, scoring 34 goals and captain the Toffees under David Moyes. The San Sebastian-born playmaker represented Spain at every youth level from U16 to U21 but failed to ever win a senior call-up.
You can stream a live Q&A session with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on SkySports.com on Sunday.
