Fabrizio Romano responds to Rio Ferdinand’s claim that Mikel Arteta would leave Arsenal for Man United

Fabrizio Romano has spoken exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest Daily Briefing column to give his response to the big claim made by Rio Ferdinand that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta would leave the Emirates Stadium to take over at Manchester United if he was offered the chance to do so.

It seems Romano is not too convinced by Ferdinand’s suggestion, insisting that Arteta is only fully focused on Arsenal, and that this is the kind of purely hypothetical scenario that he doesn’t like to get too involved in anyway.

It seems that Erik ten Hag is not currently looking in any real danger of losing his job at Man Utd, with Romano also playing down links with Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi, insisting that INEOS are ready to be patient and that the relationship with the current manager is good.

Ten Hag has endured a difficult spell at Old Trafford, but not necessarily much more so than some of his predecessors, in what has been a difficult decade for the club since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement back in 2013.

Arteta would likely be a dream appointment for United, but it seems Arsenal fans don’t need to be too worried about Ferdinand talking up that move.

Arteta to Manchester United?

Writing in today’s column, Romano said: “The Manchester United manager situation has been making for some interesting headlines, with reports that INEOS are exploring replacements for Erik ten Hag and linking Roberto De Zerbi as a candidate.

“However, my understanding remains that thee is nothing concrete to these kinds of stories – Man United are giving Ten Hag time and space to develop his football and his ideas, he also confirmed very good relationship with INEOS.

“He has to keep going at best level in the next three months, that’s obviously important. I’m sure in this time we’ll continue to have many stories about this, but for now nothing is happening.

“Some fans have also been asking me for my thoughts on Rio Ferdinand’s claim that Mikel Arteta would leave Arsenal to take the United job if they offered it to him. It’s Rio’s opinion and I respect that. But I don’t really like to enter into these kinds of debates or discussions – it’s purely hypothetical, nothing concrete or realistic.

“There’s nothing at all between United and Arteta, and my job is about concrete news and not hypotheses. Arteta’s full focus is only on Arsenal.”