Pep Guardiola's ideal 'replacement' at Man City could yet be an ex-Arsenal star

Theo Walcott earmarked former Arsenal team-mate Cesc Fabregas as the potential successor to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

The 35-year-old, who spent 12 years at the Emirates, was a guest on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport's The Monday Night Club show alongside Chris Sutton, featuring Rory Smith and Match of the Day 2 host Mark Chapman where he opened up about the Spaniard's success at Como.

The World Cup winner is the Italian side's assistant coach as well as a minority shareholder of the club as he recently celebrated the club's promotion to Serie A for the first time in 21 years.

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The pair played together in north London for five years before Fabregas, 37, made the move back to his boyhood club Barcelona in 2011 in a £30million move. Walcott labelled his ex-team-mate as a "born winner" before comparing him to fellow compatriots Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta.

"He's a born winner, very similar to the way you see someone like Xabi Alonso or a Mikel Arteta or even a Pep Guardiola coming through," the former England international said. "I just feel he's got that aura about him, again when he speaks the players listen, they're attractive to players now, it'll be a great club to go to [and] great place to live.

"He's a sort of man that you wanna listen to him, he's got so much knowledge and that belief and that hard work that influences so many players to develop into a manager that isn't going to stand still, he's going to want more and more success. I just love the fact that when he speaks, he's so passionate still and that's really important to hear and see."

Walcott certainly has high hopes for the 2010 World Cup winner who he stated would be an ideal replacement for Guardiola in Manchester. "He must be so proud because they haven't been there in 21 years, that says it all that he started his young career at 16," he added.

"Now he's developing this new career which is only going to improve and hopefully we'll see him in the Premier League because he'll be brilliant and he'll be a good replacement for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City at some point."