Barcelona are monitoring Mikel Arteta’s progress at Arsenal as they line the Spaniard up for a future role as manager, according to reports.

The Gunners have made an outstanding start to the new Premier League season, winning ten of their first 12 fixtures with Arteta’s men sitting pretty at the top of the table.

However, The Sun reports that the Arsenal has dismissed the reports as false. According to the publication, the Gunners’ manager is committed to Arsenal and is not ready to move.

“Mikel Arteta has rubbished talk that suggested he might sensationally quit Arsenal and replace Xavi Hernandez at Barcelona. Pressure has been mounting on the head of Xavi following another exit during the group stages of the Champions League,” The Sun reports.

Reports earlier this week suggested Xavi may even be sacked by the club and replaced by Arteta. However, Arteta has come out to rubbish those rumours.

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s clash with FC Zurich, Arteta said, “No (I don’t make anything of it). What I can say is I’m extremely happy and proud to be where I am. I think Barcelona are in a really good path and (have) a phenomenal coach that has been an absolute legend in that club and has lifted the whole place and you have to be respectful of that.”

Arteta has shocked pre-season predictions and has guided Arsenal to the top of the Premier League table. The Gunners have a two-point gap to champions Manchester City, having only lost one game so far this season.

They have recruited well two summers in a row to help the Spaniard enact his tactical philosophy after the rebuild project he undertook when the team were in eighth.

There were times over the past couple of seasons when Arsenal supporters’ faith was waning for Arteta but everyone is now fully behind him as he pushes them on towards a successful campaign.

Arsenal are reaping the benefits of the last two summer transfer windows in which they seemed to change their recruitment policy, with Arteta and technical director Edu at the centre of that success.

And Arteta’s excellence has not gone unnoticed elsewhere with Spanish publication Sport (via The Sun) claiming that Barcelona are big admirers of the Spaniard. Arteta came through Barcelona’s youth academy but only ever played as high as their ‘B’ side, failing to make it to first-team level before securing a move to Rangers.

Arsenal are ‘facing a fight’ to hang onto Arteta with the report insisting that the Catalan giants are ‘paying attention’ to him and see him as a Barcelona manager ‘down the line’.

Sport adds that, despite Barca’s recent humiliating exit from the Champions League, they don’t currently have plans to sack Xavi and appoint another manager. Barcelona are currently having a good start to the new La Liga campaign with 10 wins from their opening 12 matches, trailing leaders Real Madrid by just one point.

But Barcelona were already out of the Champions League before they could play their fifth game of the group stages, which ended in a 3-0 thrashing by Bayern Munich.

“Thanks to the supporters for their unconditional support,” Xavi told Movistar after their Champions League exit. “They have shown it since I arrived and the atmosphere was extraordinary again tonight.

“Bayern were better, we can’t have any complaints. It is the reality for us now. We have to disconnect from the Champions League and focus on the other competitions. It is a blow, but I have already said that maybe we need these setbacks to grow.

“We were not at Bayern’s level today. They were better. In Munich we were ourselves, but today they were better, intense. The elimination before the game affected us psychologically. Now we train again tomorrow and think about La Liga.

“A little bit has everything has happened to us in the competition, all possible situations. The main thing has been our own mistakes, we have not been at the level we are capable of and made errors.”

And despite the disappointment of missing out on Champions League football for this season following their late collapse last year, the atmosphere around the Emirates is buzzing.

In Barcelona’s case, a massive war chest leveraged against future revenue was given to Xavi in the hopes of returning the club to its heights of old. But a pair of poor results against Inter Milan in their Champions League group left meant they were knocked out at the group stage for the second time in a row.

However, in La Liga they are just one point behind leaders Real Madrid.

They will also have a chance to salvage their European season with a run in the Europa League – which may lead them to a round of 32 tie against Manchester United.