At Arsenal this summer, it’s all about bringing in and shifting out. But what about keeping hold of? While it’s well documented which players are coming up to the final years of their contracts, there are seven with little over two years left to run.
With Mikel Arteta facing the prospect of in and around ten players leaving north London at the end of the season, he’s also got his eye on who needs bringing in. It’s going to be an ‘unprecedented’ summer of activity at the club, with Edu and co having their hands full.
They won’t be alone, though.
It was confirmed earlier in the season that Richard Garlick will leave his current role with the Premier League to become the new director of football operations at Arsenal, replacing the departed Huss Fahmy.
His role will be similar to that of Dick Law before him, where he will help to deal with player contracts and negotiations, working closely alongside the technical director.
And come the summer there will be seven members of the Arsenal squad with two years left to run on their deals, meaning there is plenty for Garlick to get his hands stuck into by the time he assumes his role. However, two of those seven, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Willian, won’t – we can assume – be leaving and will instead see out their contracts before moving on for free in 2023.
Negotiations will need to be held with the other five, either with a view to moving them on or tying them down further. Allowing players to enter the final 24 months of their deals has been commonplace at the club for years, damaging finances to ridiculous levels, and is a practice the club must be moving away from.
The ‘two years left’ no man’s land of contracts is a dangerous grey area: sell, keep or extend? There are so many variables to consider and seeing to the issue in advance is essential.
So, whose futures need sorting?
Bernd Leno
There are those who appreciate what Bernd Leno brings to the team and laud his many vital clutch saves in goal, while others wish his name was Emiliano Martinez. The latter can’t be blamed, as the Argentine is a magnificent goalkeeper.
It was the German who got the nod from Mikel Arteta, largely because the £20m offer for Martinez wasn’t coming in for Leno and the profit made was too good to turn down.
With over 100 Gunners appearances under his belt, Leno is the undisputed No. 1. At 29 years old he’s in the best patch of his career and already among the better shot-stoppers in the Premier League.
He is flawed, of that there is little doubt, and given he’s coming up to 500 career appearances there is reason to believe he may never overcome certain failings. What he is, though, is a strong goalkeeper who is prone to the occasional error, and the best Arsenal have had since Jens Lehmann.
One of the few areas of the squad where the first choice position doesn’t need tinkering with – Leno can obviously be upgraded but not without a considerable outlay – he will be among those sure to pen a new deal.
Hector Bellerin
Witnessing the worst 30 minutes of football by an Arsenal side this season followed by possibly the best 45 minutes of an Arsenal side this season, the omission of Hector Bellerin from the squad that drew 3-3 with West Ham despite being fit flew somewhat under the radar.
Mikel Arteta opted to leave his countryman out in favour of Calum Chambers and Cedric Soares, a move that while potentially just a one-off, signalled what may well be the nail in the coffin for the right-back’s Gunners future.
That isn’t to say Bellerin won’t have an important role to play between now and the end of the season, and he may well be the starting full-back for the rest of the Europa League campaign, but Arteta clearly sees benefits in the other two options that the long-serving vice-captain can’t offer.
Being convinced to remain in north London by Arteta in the previous summer, the growing speculation of Bellerin wanting a fresh challenge at this stage of his career, Arsenal seeking to cash in on certain assets and a general feeling that this long-standing relationship has run its course all point strongly to this being his final few fixtures at the club.
While tinged with sentiment and a degree of sadness, it’s the right move for all parties. Arsenal can earn more money for Bellerin than any other player free to leave.
Emile Smith Rowe
Anything other than a new long-term contract for Emile Smith Rowe is unacceptable. Good thing it will happen then, as there is little doubt this isn’t already well underway.
It has emerged since the beginning of the year that talks have already begun to tie Smith Rowe down to a similar contract as the one handed to Bukayo Saka upon his stunning rise into football stardom, and keeping hold of the core that is becoming the present of this side let alone the future of it is essential.
What Arteta is building relies on a youthful heart that will become the foundation for supplementary progression. Smith Rowe is at the centre of that.
There is confidence from all sides that this will go ahead without a hitch, which is vital given how serious it is putting his pen to paper on new terms.
What aids Arsenal is an undoubted love Smith Rowe has for his club. He bleeds red and white despite being from south London, feelings that are plastered across his face every time he embarks on a heartwarming post-match interview.
Already an England Under-21 international, it won’t be long before he’s getting a call-up to the senior side even with the abundance of stunning talent at Gareth Southgate’s disposal. The 20-year-old has all the tools and the right attitude to reach the very top, and the perfect environment for him to do so.
Granit Xhaka
An interesting one, to say the least.
What do Arsenal do with Granit Xhaka? In terms of the most improved players in this squad for this season, Xhaka sits near the very top. Claims of him being a ‘changed man’ in previous times have almost always been short-lived, but with the post-Burnley Xhaka it truly feels like he’s turned a corner.
Coming up to two years left to run on his deal, do Arsenal reward that renaissance with a long-term stay in the engine room or do they cash in amid rumours of the Swiss wanting to return to the Bundesliga?
At 28 years old, it’s a decision that will have been heavily discussed.
There is another option though, where Arteta sees it fit to hand Xhaka another shorter extension, perhaps just the single year, meaning he can stay and either play in the Champions League or be part of the squad that battles to return to it next year, and then move back to Germany.
Would Xhaka accept such terms? Arteta will have outlined his plan to the midfielder when he convinced him to stay with the club in the aftermath of his outburst, with some form of timeline put in place for the final years of his deal.
It would be a real shock to see him leave in the summer, yet Arteta will know for the brand of football he wishes to play an upgrade in that position is necessary.
Reiss Nelson
Why didn’t Reiss Nelson go out on loan? Depending on where you read there were issues over sharing his wages, a disagreement on what he could offer the side and not finding the right loan club for him.
Whatever the outcome, the conclusion to the dilemma should not have been playing with the Under-23 side. Nelson still has time to forge a strong career in the Premier League but he should be already playing first team football, whether that’s at a bottom half club, in the Championship or abroad.
Arteta has made numerous calls on personnel at Arsenal and gradually there has been an acceptance that he simply doesn’t favour Nelson.
There doesn’t appear to be a future for him in north London and there will be takers for an undoubtedly talented English forward at his age, so a sale appears on the cards.
With two years left on his deal in the summer, there is still the possibility that Arsenal tie him down for a few more years and send him out on loan for the 2021/22 campaign, in a similar vein to how Konstantinos Mavropanos’ situation was handled.
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