LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday he had received no approach from other clubs for assistant Mikel Arteta and tipped him as a possible future successor at the Premier League champions.
The 37-year-old Spaniard has been linked to his former club Arsenal, who sacked Unai Emery last month, as well as Everton, for whom he also played and who dismissed Marco Silva on Thursday.
Guardiola told reporters ahead of Saturday's home derby against Manchester United that he had not spoken to Arteta about it but wanted him to stay.
"I'm not a guy that puts a gun to the heads of my staff or players and says what they have to do," he told Sky Sports television separately. "We are human beings and everyone has dreams and desires.
"Hopefully he can stay this season and the next one -- as long as possible in this club. That would be my dream, but Mikel has his own life and I will never say what he has to do."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)