Guardiola determined to keep Borrell amid Arsenal links

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London, December 21: Pep Guardiola is keen to avoid losing a second assistant to Arsenal after indicating Rodolfo Borrell has a big role to play at Manchester City.

Back-to-back Premier League champions City are seeing their crown slide this season, with Liverpool seemingly striding away towards trophy glory.

And they suffered a fresh setback when Mikel Arteta was tempted away by Arsenal this week, with Guardiola's de facto number two landing the head coach role at Emirates Stadium.

Guardiola made no secret of his wish for Arteta to stay with City, but after three-and-a-half years of learning the ropes in Manchester, the 37-year-old saw his future in north London.

Reports have linked Borrell with Arsenal too, with suggestions Arteta may see him as the perfect second-in-command.

However, Guardiola is not minded to allow former Barcelona youth coach Borrell, who played a role in nurturing the early career of Lionel Messi, to follow the same path as Arteta.

Former City youth coach Borrell will effectively take on Arteta's old job, the 48-year-old working more closely with Guardiola than before.

"From now on he will stay with me. We don't have any approach from Arsenal," Guardiola told reporters at a news conference.

Guardiola has ruled out bringing in a replacement from outside to take Arteta's place before the end of the season.

He said: "Until summer we are going to continue in this way."