
Arsenal
Premier League • England
Arsenal transfer news: Edu scheming leads to ‘growing’ feeling over trio’s future amid Arteta concern

Arsenal are growing increasingly confident of handing William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo new contracts, a report claims.
The Gunners have made an impressive start to the 2022/23 campaign and in fact sit top of the Premier League table. Despite suffering one defeat to Manchester United, confidence is building about progression.
And much of that growing confidence is coming from two successful summer transfer windows.
The likes of Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus have all settled well following their Arsenal arrivals.
But, players who arrived on the scene before those two transfer windows have impressed. In particular, England winger Saka – an academy graduate – is a vital part of Mikel Arteta’s team.
Fellow winger Martinelli and centre-back Saliba have also pushed on this term.
As such, 90min claims that Arsenal are pushing to resolve the futures of the trio and tie them down to new contracts.
Saka revealed in August that he feels confident of extending his terms. And Arteta echoed those comments.
Real Madrid and Manchester City are monitoring Saka, but 90min adds that Arsenal have no real concerns about their star man’s future. Indeed, Arsenal expect Saka to sign a new contract before the end of 2022.
Arsenal want new Martinelli, Saliba contracts
Brazilian winger Martinelli is also a key contract priority for Arsenal. He was an Unai Emery signing in 2019 and, like Saka, he has two years left on his contract.
There is less concern over Martinelli’s future compared to Saka because he has a one-year option in his deal.
Nevertheless, Arsenal want to advance talks with the attacker. As for Saliba, the Frenchman has finally got his chance in the Gunners team after a number of loan spells away.
Saliba publicly criticised Arsenal for not giving him a chance. Now that he is in Arteta’s plans, though, Arsenal want to keep him there with a new contract.
As for the progress of the new deals, Arsenal technical director and transfer guru Edu has a ‘growing’ feeling that all three deals are going well and could be sealed before the end of January.
Arsenal manager Arteta feels ‘anxious’ to get the contracts sorted out, given the trio’s importance in his team.
Gunners facing crucial period
Arteta has clearly shown that he is building something exciting at Arsenal. There are still aspects to work on, such as performance levels against their top-six rivals.
And the 3-1 defeat to Man Utd did nothing to alleviate concerns on that front.
Although, the prospect of the young stars in their team sticking around with new contracts is a hugely exciting one.
Saka, Martinelli and Saliba have all shown exciting promise and all three are still only 21 years old.
This season is a big one for them, as they look to help Arsenal win the Europa League. A top-four Premier League finish, though, is the main aim.
Nevertheless, experiences in Europe – be them wins or difficult defeats – will help them grow as players.
Adding a new contract into the mix would make them more motivated to lead Arsenal into an exciting future.
It is not only the aforementioned trio who form the spine of Arsenal’s exciting young team, either. Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah are further exciting players.