Arsenal were unable to sign a winger in the summer transfer window, despite the clear need to strengthen in the wide areas. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have a lot of pressure to perform until the next opportunity to address this area of the pitch opens.
However, the two wingers have lived up to the pressure and were excellent during the first half of the season. Arsenal currently lead the Premier League table by seven points with Saka and Martinelli playing a major part.
Their importance on the team has been epitomised by their domination compared to other youngsters around Europe. It is because of that dominance that Arsenal could be set to win their first Premier League title in 19 years.
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Saka leads the list in players aged 21 or under with the goals and assists in Europe last year with 20 goals contributed. Martinelli makes the top five list having been involved in 14 goals throughout 2022.
The Arsenal wingers have been excellent throughout the season and are a major reason why the Gunners currently top the Premier League. Martinelli and Saka have both scored seven goals this season, which is an impressive statistic considering they are doing so from wide areas.
The talented duo will be out of contract in 2024, which means that their deals have less than two years to run. This is a worry for Arsenal as the youngsters are close to entering the territory where the club agree to sales at a low price, or risk losing them on a free transfer, despite Arsenal having triggered an extension in Saka's existing contract, which was initially due to expire in 2023.
However, 90min have reported that Arsenal are pushing hard to tie Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba down to new long-term contracts. The report goes on to claim that Edu believes the deals are on the right track, with the Gunners hopeful that all three will have put pen to paper by January.
Saka has already revealed that he is confident of signing a contract extension with Arsenal. The 20-year-old most recently signed a four-year extension in the summer of 2020 and since then has gone on to become one of the Gunners' most important and influential players.
Mikel Arteta admitted he was also positive about the chances of getting fresh terms sorted. "I am very confident that we as a club and Bukayo, his family, his agent, everybody, we are very much aligned in what we want to achieve," the Spaniard said. "And now it is about putting it on a piece of paper."
Meanwhile, Saka said: "Yes, I share his confidence," when the England international faced the media after the Gunners' 2-1 win over Fulham in August. Saka, however, would not be drawn into placing a timescale on when that was likely to be.
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