Mikel Arteta has confirmed that decisions have been made over the futures of Mohamed Elneny, Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette, all of whom are out of contract this summer, but refused to divulge any details until they are formally announced.
All three featured in Arsenal’s 5-1 final-day win over Everton, with Nketiah continuing his impressive recent goalscoring form.
Lacazette, who was afforded a late substitute cameo, is expected to depart having lost his place in the side towards the back end of the campaign, while Elneny appears set to stay after pictures on social media showed the Egyptian in the Emirates press room after full-time apparently posing for photographs with pen and paper in hand.
There is less certainty over the future of academy graduate Nketiah, however, who scored his fifth league goal of the campaign against the Toffees and is a target for several other Premier League clubs.
“I will speak to the three players now or tomorrow and after that we need to start to move but we have clear ideas of what we want to do,” Arteta added.
“It’s been decided but it’s very difficult to communicate it. What they deserve is to have a bit of what they had today. To do it earlier, one way or the other, with three situations like that is very, very awkward and it could effect the team so as a club we have to do the right thing in the right moment and sometimes combining those two is not easy at all.
“From my side and as a club we will do what we have to do and do what we think is the best thing for the club to move forward - and do it with the integrity and honesty that we’ve always done it. Those players know individually their situations, when it is going to be communicated, and that situation will happen face-to-face, the way they deserve.”
