Mikel Arteta has moved to calm any nerves among Arsenal supporters, insisting a new contract with the Premier League champions will be sorted out in due course.
Arteta is currently working into the final year of his existing deal, a situation that persists even though co-chairman Josh Kroenke described a fresh agreement back in May as an "upmost priority" for the club.
Yet the manager is adamant that neither he nor the club are under any strain over the matter, suggesting the extension will simply fall into place because both parties remain content with the relationship.
"They [the fans] don't have to worry about any of that because I want to be here, I'm extremely happy and I feel very grateful to work with the people I work with," said Arteta about his contract talks.
"When we have the possibility, we will resolve that. That's it.
"Everybody feels comfortable that the timing of the contract is not going to be an issue because my will certainly is to be here and I'm very happy here. My feeling from the club is the same one. That's why everyone is doing things in a very organic way."
How the talks have evolved
According to Yahoo Sports, Arsenal intend to pick discussions back up over the summer having deliberately paused them towards the end of the 2025/26 campaign so as not to distract from the title race. Reports from late May, cited by Reuters, had already indicated a new deal was expected to be finalised as a reward for the club's first league title in 22 years, with those talks described at the time as a "positive" step towards an extension.
The financial details being floated vary depending on the source. One report from Yahoo Sports suggested a new contract could push Arteta's salary up to around £15 million a season, a rise on his current terms. Separately, Arsenal Station reported the proposed extension would run through to 2029, adding three further years to his time at the club. That contrasts somewhat with a report from The Athletic via the New York Times, which described Arteta's existing contract as running until 2027 in any case, meaning there is no urgent need for Arsenal to rush a replacement into place.
Arteta's current deal traces back to an announcement made by the club in September 2024, which later reporting from Arsenal.com confirmed extends to 2027. Earlier coverage from ESPN had also noted that talks were deliberately put on hold so the manager and the club could concentrate fully on the title run-in and closing weeks of last season.
What happens next
Formal negotiations are expected to resume once Arteta returns from his summer break, according to Yahoo Sports, though no final decision is anticipated before then. Separate reporting from GB News similarly indicated that Arsenal were waiting for the season to fully conclude before reopening talks in earnest, with both manager and club understood to remain keen to extend their partnership.
Does Arteta have enough attacking firepower this season?
Beyond his own future, Arteta was also pressed on whether his squad possesses sufficient attacking threat to defend the Premier League crown and challenge across all competitions this season.
Despite delivering the title and reaching the Champions League final, questions lingered last term over whether Arsenal were attacking enough, even as their defensive record drew widespread praise.
This summer Arsenal have brought in Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis to bolster midfield and attack, while Leandro Trossard has departed for Besiktas. Arsenal's pursuit of Bruno Guimaraes had been building for some time, with our earlier coverage detailing how the Gunners were closing in on the Brazilian after agreeing a £75m compromise with Newcastle, alongside Christian Norgaard completing his move to Everton.
Outside of those additions, the core of Arteta's forward line and midfield remains largely unchanged from the group that finished last season, even though the club had shown interest in Vinicius Junior, Julian Alvarez and Bradley Barcola as attacking options. Vinicius Junior in particular has been a recurring thread throughout the summer, with Arteta previously telling reporters that "a lot is happening" amid the club's transfer plans, and on another occasion choosing to sidestep a direct question on the Real Madrid forward before ending his press conference following the win over Girona. Arsenal's broader summer strategy had also been outlined in a piece examining the four transfers Arteta needs to defend the Premier League title, which named Vinicius Junior, Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa and Julian Alvarez among the targets under consideration.
Asked directly whether he currently has enough quality up front, Arteta replied:
"If they are fit, yes.
"But when you look last year at the amount of days, games, months that we missed a lot of our important players and players with a lot of goal threat, the manner that we sustained to have the season that we had, I think is remarkable.
"It talks about the team playing and conducting, and I think it's something that the team deserves credit for.
"We're going to prefer to elevate our level, for sure, expecting that the rest will do the same, because that's traditionally what happened in the league in the last few years. And that's what we have planned this season, and we want to evolve it.
"I have to prepare a team that is capable of winning in whatever the context is: because we're not good enough on the day, because the opponent is so good, because the differences in games. That's my job, that's how I will prepare the team."
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