Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has hit out at the timing of the club’s decision to extend Mikel Arteta’s contract. The Gunners announced that the Spaniard had signed a new deal keeping him at the Emirates Stadium until the end of the 2024/25 season.
Arsenal appear to be finding form at just the right time, winning their last three games in a row after losing the previous three. And their recent upturn in results has left them in pole position to finish fourth with just four fixtures of the season remaining.
The Gunners are two points clear of fifth placed Tottenham and the two sides will meet in a blockbuster North London derby on May 12. However, the Gunners host Leeds on Sunday in another crucial clash and Keown proposed that perhaps his former side would’ve been better placed to extend Arteta’s deal in the summer.
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"They’ve just lost three games and won three games. I thought they might have waited until the summer because we are now at a crossroads and got a huge game coming up,’ Keown told talkSPORT.
"They obviously feel there’s no desire for any change, they’re happy. I think they’re right. I probably would’ve waited until the summer.
"Perhaps there was a clamour for the manager from other clubs, we don’t know what’s happening internally, they wanted to meet his needs and felt no reason for any kind of change. We could’ve been looking at a very different situation had they not beaten Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham all in one week.
"If they’d been announcing after losing those games it might have been a different situation. I think it’s good for the players, get the man in and settled in place.
"The person in charge has to be looked after and resolved. It feels like the start of the journey."
