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Aaron Ramsey talks up Mikel Arteta amid rumours he could take over at Arsenal

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Aaron Ramsey speaks out on Mikel Arteta replacing Arsene Wenger at Arsenal — The Spaniard, who previously skippered the Gunners, has been linked with the role (Picture: Getty)

Aaron Ramsey believes former Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta has the potential to be a fantastic manager amid rumours he could replace Arsene Wenger this summer.

The Spaniard, who spent five seasons at the Emirates, has emerged as a leading candidate to take over from Wenger after cutting his teeth as part of Pep Guardiolas title-winning Manchester City coaching team.

Arteta, though, has reservations about returning to north London, with Metro.co.uk revealing that the 36-year-old is still happy learning from Guardiola.

Arsenal midfielder Ramsey appears to share Artetas fear that the Arsenal job has come too soon for him, though has no doubt that he has all the qualities to be a great manager in the future.

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Ahead of facing Atletico Madrid in the Europa League on Thursday, Ramsey told reporters: Mikel was a fantastic player for Arsenal and a great captain.

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Hes been under Pep Guardiola there, he was always interested even when he was playing here in going into a coaching role one day, Im sure hes learning a lot about the game and especially the way Man City have been playing.

Theyve done fantastically well, so Im sure that one day when the time is right, hell be a fantastic manager. Its still early days in his career at the moment.

On Wengers shock departure, Ramsey added: Its going to be weird next season when hes not here but for now he is, and we have to finish the season off as strongly as possible.

We all sort of knew that one day he was always going to step down as manager, and that day has come and it was a massive shock to the team.

But we have to put those emotions behind us and use it as motivation as well to finish off the season strongly, and hopefully we can lift something for him and let the other emotions come in after that when the season is finished. Then well go from there.