Mikel Arteta has said he has a clear conscience over his former club Manchester City’s serious breaches of financial rules.

An independent commission found that between 2009/10 and 2017/18, City artificially inflated their revenue by £830m. The club have lodged an appeal and deny all wrongdoing.

The investigation covered two years in which Arteta was working as assistant to manager Pep Guardiola but, in an otherwise guarded press conference, the Arsenal boss answered “yes” when asked if he had a clear conscience.

Arteta, who this week signed a new four-year contract as Arsenal manager, faced a string of questions over the City verdict by journalists but repeatedly insisted he would not comment further until the outcome of City’s appeal is known.

“The thing is that this has been going for various years,” he said.

“The process is still not finished, so it’s very difficult to express how I feel because it’s not resolved. When it’s resolved, I can talk with clarity and tell you exactly how I feel.

“I think that process has to be resolved in a way. And we need to trust that the people who are in charge doing that will do it in the timeframe that they believe is best for everybody.”

Arteta spent three-and-a-half seasons working with Guardiola, including the 2016/17 and 2017/18 campaigns, when City won back-to-back Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups, before leaving the club to take charge of Arsenal in 2019.

According to the independent commission, City artificially inflated their sponsorship income by £264.3m across the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, a period during which their signings included John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Bernardo Silva, Ederson and Kyle Walker.

Arteta refused to comment when asked if his memories of working at City had been tainted.

When asked whether he was pleased to have won the Premier League title for Arsenal before the verdict, he said: “I feel proud and very emotional when I think about how we won it, the moments that we had together. It’s a unique and genuine feeling that I have.”

Arteta: Premier League still best in the world

Arteta insisted the Premier League will “100 per cent” continue to be the best league in the world despite questions of integrity being thrown up by the City verdict.

“It’s the best league in the world for many reasons,” he added.

“I’ve been here for over 20 years and it will continue to be the best league in the world. I feel privileged to be where I am.

“And there are a few clubs who have been extremely good and managed resources in an intelligent way. And we suffered from that a few weeks ago [with their defeat to Brighton].”

However, following comments by Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner, who said the Premier League has been “damaged” by City being found guilty, Arteta admitted he was unsure about the impact on the competition’s reputation globally.

“I want to think that it doesn’t [damage the Premier League] but I don’t know,” he said. “And certainly it’s not in our control.

“In our control is to bring everything we can individually to the club, to maintain the position we have to be the best league in the world.”

The top stories and transfer rumours from Saturday’s newspapers…

PREMIER LEAGUE

Manchester United could be forced into January action in the transfer market to strengthen at left-back and in attack – The Sun

Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso has insisted Cole Palmer was right to withdraw from England duty, amid criticism from Thomas Tuchel – Daily Mail

Johan Manzabi is a quick learner and making huge strides at Aston Villa, according to Unai Emery – Express and Star

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL

AC Milan think they are frontrunners for a loan deal for Endrick, as the 20-year-old Brazil forward continues to struggle for minutes at Real Madrid – La Gazzetta dello Sport

Harry Kane’s talks for a contract extension at Bayern Munich are ‘going very well’, according to the club’s sporting director Christoph Freund – ESPN

Bayern Munich are also tracking Barcelona midfielder Dani Olmo – beIN Sports

Dana White has credited Eddie Hearn for making sure the long-awaited fight between Tyson Fury and Antony Joshua will be held in the UK but insisted he was “bored” of their ongoing feud.

The heavyweight bout will take place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff – despite efforts to host it New York’s Madison Square Garden – on a bill that starts on 11 December, though they are not expected to fight until the early hours of 12 December.

White and Saudi Arabian organisers wanted the bout in the United States, but Joshua and his promoter Hearn refused to budge on their contractual right to have it in the UK.

“You’ve got to give credit to Eddie for really grinding that and making sure that it happened in the UK,” UFC president and Zuffa Boxing chief White told Steve Bunce on the 5 Live Boxing with Bunce podcast.

However, there had been doubts over the contest because of a dispute over the role of White in the promotion of the event.

The fight, which will be shown on Netflix, has been presented as a collaboration between Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and White.

Hearn has been publicly feuding with White since the launch of Zuffa Boxing earlier this year and said his involvement in the fight “ain’t happening”.

But, Fury and Joshua held a news conference on 30 September, to ease concerns over their fight.