As Pep Guardiola approaches the end of his fourth season in charge of Manchester City, why has Giovanni van Bronckhorst been hanging around the Premier League club and could he have a future as Guardiola's successor?
It had appeared for a brief period that Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola's assistant at Manchester City, would replace Arsene Wenger when he departed Arsenal in 2018.
Ultimately overlooked in favour of the since sacked Unai Emery, Arteta's suitability for the role is once more being publicly considered.
However, as Guardiola looks set to make his stint in charge of Manchester City the longest of his managerial career, Sam Lee, the club's correspondent for The Athletic, explained why Mikel Arteta may be convinced that he is better off staying where he is; irrespective of any potential interest on Arsenal's behalf.
"Does he stick around for what will probably be 18 months and wait for Guardiola [to go]," questioned Lee of Arteta's likely move on Tuesday's OTB AM. "I think the goal from City is to hire from within and if you're hiring from within there's only going to be one candidate."
Unless, of course, one considers the presence of Giovanni van Bronckhorst around the club.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Feyenoord manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst.Although Lee foresees Arteta holding a firmer grasp on the role of Guardiola's successor, van Bronckhorst, in the event that Arteta is otherwise engaged, may serve as an unlikely replacement.
The former Rangers, Arsenal and Barcelona full-back recently concluded a four-year stint with Feyenoord and is reported to be working within the wider footballing structure that owns Manchester City.
"City has got quite a unique [ownership] structure where they own other clubs," he outlined. "There is a coaching structure that to an extent works across all the clubs.
"In the last couple of weeks, a load of staff from [Club Atlético] Torque, their Uruguayan club, they've been at the Etihad and they try to share knowledge in that way.
"I think the way it has been described is that Giovanni van Bronckhorst wanted to come in and see how all that worked, get some experience coaching and although he didn't initially have an awful lot to do with City's first team, he's been around a lot.
"He's now back in Manchester again, a bit more involved. It is interesting that this guy who has had success in his own coaching career is now part of City's group to some extent, and maybe he'll be a candidate?"
Indeed, during his sole managerial tenure with Feyenoord, van Bronckhorst won the Dutch Cup on two occasions as well as securing the club's first league title success in 18 years.
You can watch Sam Lee's assessment of Manchester City's thus far and Pep Guardiola's future with the club in its entirety here.
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