One aspect of Arsenal that has truly reached new heights besides their position in the league table is their competency when it comes to player contracts. Hard work has resulted in large portions of the group being signed up for the long term.
Under Edu and Mikel Arteta’s reign, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka have signed two new renewals, William Saliba decided to extend despite early concerns about his tenure while others such as Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White have also renewed in the last couple of years. Despite the proactive nature of the policy installed by those off the field, it is something of a thankless task.
Time is the enemy and as soon as a season finishes, players are one year closer to their expiration with their club. The likes of Edu are therefore in constant contact with representatives and the players themselves whilst transfer stories, like we’ve seen with Saliba over the break, only worsen those tensions.
The club need to make many decisions as soon as before the end of the current season as some deals run toward their expiry. Both Jorginho and Thomas Partey will see their contracts come to the end in the summer with both now in their thirties.
Should the club opt against these two renewals then a big job emerges for Edu in the transfer market in 2025. Mikel Merino has indeed come in but there would definitely be an argument of depth issues should both aforementioned players be allowed to go.
On the other end of the spectrum is a player like Kieran Tierney who has just one year left to run come the summer. He is entirely out of Mikel Arteta’s plans and with his deal so low, a sale looks the only route out however the scenario means that a fair price for Arsenal is out of the question with a chance for a club to get a cheap deal – while extending for a year would be near-impossible to agree with a player who has little-to-no prospect of game time at the club.
Then comes both Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus who see their deals run out in 2026 and 2027 respectively. The pair have helped raise Arsenal back into the Champions League and establish themselves as title challengers but the progression of existing talent and new arrivals have seen the pair outgrown by their newer teammates.
The longer they stay at the club, similar to Tierney, the harder it is to land a reasonable price on the market. Zinchenko is already within the two-year threshold Arsenal try and avoid while Jesus will meet it next summer.
Leandro Trossard is perhaps one of the most interesting considering his age. Turning 30 this December, Trossard will too have one year remaining on his deal come the end of this season but his contributions have been excellent.
The deal for the former Brighton player, should it be offered, will give a good indication of how Arsenal view their 30-plus players that remain integral to the starting eleven on a regular occasion. Will they adopt a one-year strategy and if so, will players like Trossard accept it?
