Arsenal academy chief Per Mertesacker has lifted the lid on how close he is to manager Mikel Arteta.
Mertesacker revealed it was Arteta who recommended he be given a job at Arsenal when retiring - and the German repaid the favour when Unai Emery departed as the Gunners sought a replacement.
He told the London Evening Standard: When [Arteta] left us, he left Ivan Gazidis a note saying: 'You can't lose this guy'.
[It was] in terms of: you are losing me now, you are asking me too late. Because he had promised to go to City.
He told Ivan: 'You can't lose this guy. Just put him somewhere'. That was kind of the start, and we kept tabs. And then between him and Unai [Emery], that was the situation.
I put a good word in for him, without knowing how good he was as a coach. I knew how good he was as a human being and how much I trusted him.
He called me when he didn't get the job to say: 'Thank you, I know you put my name forward'. A year and a half after when he then came, and Edu came, it felt like the right time.
From there it has been a feeling of trust, that we both do the best for the club and it is pretty much aligned."