Aaron Ramsdale has delivered a positive update on Bukayo Saka's contract. The Arsenal stopper had a quiet night as the Gunners claimed a 4-0 victory over Everton on Wednesday.
At the other end of the pitch though it was his England teammate Saka who broke the deadlock after a difficult opening 40 minutes for Mikel Arteta's men. The 21-year-old winger now has 10 Premier League goals for the season, and Arsenal are unsurprisingly keen to tie him down to a new contract.
His current deal is set to expire in the summer of 2024, although football.london understands that the Gunners are close to agreeing a new long term contract with the Hale Ender. And now Ramsdale has given his opinion on the unfolding negotiations.
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"I think if he had one week left I wouldn't be worried about him being here," Ramsdale told reporters after the game when asked about Saka. "If he had until the end of the season I would still see him here on the first day of pre-season.
"I'm fairly relaxed with Bukayo, let him crack on with his team and the club sort it out and then we move forward. It is obviously not affecting him, that is why he is not rushing into anything and when it does settle, we know we have him for longer than we do at the minute.
"It will be a boost to the club but as I said he has still got 18 months, two and a half years on his contract anyway, so I think it will be more of a boost for him, knowing the club have a lot of faith in him. Bukayo is an Arsenal player and will be for a long time."
While Saka's form has been crucial to Arsenal's unexpected Premier League title challenge this season, Ramsdale has also played his part too. Despite having little to do on Wednesday night, the 24-year-old was called into action to pull off a superb double save in order to preserve his clean sheet.
This kind of relentless approach has been key in helping the Gunners open up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League. For Ramsdale, the secret to sustaining this mentality has been how his team suffered in losing the race for the Champions League last season to Tottenham.
"Obviously I think what’s driving us on as well though is the scars of last year," he said. "No one has forgotten about that and what’s happened, so that’s obviously a big driving force in this team.
"But we have experienced players who have been there and done it at multiple different Premier Leagues, Carabao Cups, FA Cups, European Championships. So we’ve been there and done it – some of the players – and others are 20, 21, 22 playing the best football of their career and carrying this football team forward."
While Arsenal began the season as surprise contenders for the league, many now view them as favourites to go on and claim a first title since the 2003/04 season. This kind of pressure has proved too much for certain squads in the past, particularly ones as young as this current Gunners group.
For Ramsdale though, pressure is nothing new. Across his short career in the Premier League, the England international has already been involved in two relegation scraps with Bournemouth and Sheffield United. Having experienced that, he is keen to just enjoy Arsenal's current form while it lasts, rather than focusing too much on what's to come.
"I wouldn’t say it’s easy but it’s definitely a pressure which is so much nicer to have than the opposite side," he said when asked about the difference between fighting at the two opposite ends of the table. "So yeah, it’s an enjoyment and because not a lot of us have been here before, we don’t really know how to handle it.
"So we’re just going in and playing the games as if we were 10th , 12th, whatever. We’re just going out to play with our group of team-mates and try and win as many games as possible. And when you play here at this stadium, or even away, the fans… honestly it’s so much easier to play when things are going well and we’re relishing it."
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