Arsenal title winner wants to coach in England, learned from Guardiola last year

Arsenal title winner Giovanni van Bronckhorst has told Sky Sports of his desire to coach in the Premier League and sees the prospect of coaching the teams he’s played for as a “big dream”.

The Dutchman played for Arsenal between 2001 and 2003, lifting the 2001-02 Premier League title and the 2002-03 FA Cup.

Van Bronckhorst’s time at Highbury was hampered by a cruciate knee ligament injury which saw him sidelined after only a few months at the club.

He made 64 appearances for Arsene Wenger’s side, scoring twice and claming 10 assists, before moving to Barcelona in 2003 on an initial loan with a view to a transfer.

After hanging up his boots in 2010, Van Bronckhorst became Feyenoord’s assistant manager the following year, before being promoted to manager in 2015.

During his time at the helm of the Rotterdam club, he led his charges to the 2016-17 Eredivisie title and two Dutch Cups.

In 2019, the former Netherlands international left Feyenoord and spent some time learning from Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Van Bronckhorst then took over as manager of Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F earlier in 2020, but his long-term goal is to test himself in the English top-flight.

“At the moment I’m enjoying my work in China,” he told Sky Sports. “But as a player I had ambition and as a coach I have ambition.

“The Premier League for me is the number one league in the world to be working at and, for me, it is definitely an ambition to work in. I always said if I could coach the teams I played for it would be a big dream.”

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Van Bronckhorst has done a great job with Feyenoord, and even though he’s currently coaching in the Chinese Super League, his desire to coach in England suggests the Premier League could see him in a dugout sooner rather than later.

Would he work alongside Arteta at Arsenal? It’s unlikely, given he’s already got a fair bit of experience at the top level and would probably rather take a first-team manager’s job, but with his “dream” of coaching at clubs where he’s played, it shouldn’t be fully ruled out.

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