Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders admits Mikel Arteta wanted him to make the move to Arsenal.

Arteta was appointed as Unai Emery's successor in 2019 after leaving Manchester City's coaching staff and duly made a play to bring the Dutchman to the Emirates Stadium with him.

Arteta had met Lijnders while on a course to earn their UEFA badges and asked the 39-year-old to join him as he began life in the Arsenal dugout.

“Mikel Arteta had asked me to be his assistant manager when he was preparing for his new step into management," wrote Lijnders – who has brief management experience with Dutch side NEC Nijmegen – in his new book 'Intensity'.

“We were together years earlier on the Pro Licence course, [though] his request came out of nothing. Mikel had said he felt: “There was just a difference playing Liverpool before and after you came in.

“This was the biggest compliment I ever got from somebody, I think, but I politely said no to him."