Early signs that Arsenal's Mikel Arteta was destined to be manager

"We spent a lot of time together. I became a father figure to him.

"His eyes were always open and he was always prepared to listen. He wanted to learn.

"Some days we would spend hour after hour, talking about the game over coffee.

"You can never be certain but I did get a feeling - even back then when he was so young - that he had a desire to get into coaching.

"That has turned out to be the case."

Arteta has spent the three-year gap away from Arsenal learning under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola as his no.2 at Man City.

He was interviewed for the Arsenal job at the end of Arsene Wenger's reign, but Unai Emery was chosen instead.

However de Boer feels it was a matter of time before Arteta was handed an opportunity, as his potential was always clear.

"I told the club [Rangers] to look after Mikel and work closely with him because they had a rough diamond," he added.

"They had to polish him up a little bit to make him shine.