A big topic surrounding Arsenal at the moment, aside from whether they are genuine Premier League title contenders following an impressive start to the new season, is player contracts.
With Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli all entering the final 20 months of their respective deals at the Emirates Stadium, there are plenty of reasons for the Gunners to tie the trio down to new contracts - one being to fend off interest from rival clubs.
It has been widely reported that Manchester City and Liverpool hold an interest in Saka, Chelsea are said to be monitoring the Brazilian whilst Saliba has apparently attracted interest from the likes of AC Milan and Barcelona having finally kickstarted his career with Arsenal.
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Now, there is some positive news regarding the trio. Firstly, Saliba has confirmed talks over a new deal have commenced: "Yeah, we will see. They [Arsenal and my agent] talk a little bit," he told the Evening Standard after the North London Derby victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.
"[When I spoke with Arteta in the summer], he talked about my last season and he explained the project for this season. You have to wait every time and I wait a long time for my first North London derby. I enjoyed it since the first minute to the end, and now I am so happy. We are so happy to win at home against Tottenham. It was a hard game, but we were focused all the game. We deserve this win."
Secondly, Saka has dropped a huge hint with regards to committing his future to Arsenal by 'personally investing' in an executive box at the Emirates Stadium which indicates that he wishes to stay and Martinelli has effectively ruled out a switch to Chelsea amid previous comments about remaining in North London for his entire career.
Of course, the dream scenario for Gunners supporters is Richard Garlick, whose main role entails negotiating contracts with both existing and new players, tying down Saka, Saliba and Martinelli to new deals before the end of the season, otherwise, it could be a nervy summer transfer window.
With that said, they aren't Arsenal's only contract priorities at the moment. Reiss Nelson and Mohamed Elneny are the two first-team players whose deals expire next June - although the club do have the option of extending the latter's stay by a further 12 months.
Prior to Ainsley Maitland-Niles joining Southampton on a season-long loan, it was reported that he signed a one-year extension with the Gunners which means he joins Granit Xhaka, Cedric Soares, Pablo Mari, Nicolas Pepe, Alex Runarsson and Rob Holding as the senior players out of contract in June 2024, as per transfermarkt.
As things currently stand, only Xhaka is regarded as a key player for Arteta whilst Cedric and Holding are considered backup players. In addition, there's an argument that as neither Mari, Runarsson, Maitland-Niles or Pepe have long-term futures at the club, a good loan spell for the quartet should enable Arsenal to command a decent transfer fee if sold next summer.
If the Gunners are to are to avoid the mistakes of the past of seeing the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Aaron Ramsey, Danny Welbeck, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil enter the final six months of their contracts before eventually leaving without commanding a transfer fee, then Garlick, Arteta and technical director Edu are going to be very busy over the next few months.
Whilst it would appear that Arteta and Edu have already taken steps to avoid being in a 'weak position' regarding Saliba, Saka and Martinelli, they must not ignore the other nine Arsenal first-team players out of contract in either 2023 or 2024 as there could be a chance to raise millions of pounds.
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