Arsenal remain confident of securing both William Saliba and Bukayo Saka’s futures with the renewal of their contracts, football.london understands. The club have been in talks over several of the Gunners squad this summer and have already successfully sorted the futures of three stars.
Gabriel Magalhaes signed his new deal with the club at the beginning of the window as he recovers from a procedure on his hamstring. The Brazilian has been the centre-back partner of Saliba’s for the past three seasons and the pair have formed quite the partnership.
When asked whether he would sign a new deal like his defensive partner, he replied: “Yeah, hopefully – of course, there is nothing now, but there is a good conversation with my agent and the club. Let’s see.”
Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have also signed new deals with the club. The latter has yet to be announced, but football.london understands the 18-year-old has signed a new five-year contract. Both players have broken into the senior group and represent the club’s future.
Andrea Berta, since his arrival at Arsenal in March, was given responsibilities of both preparing the club’s recruitment strategy for the summer and also targeting contract renewals. Alongside director of football operations James King and managing director Richard Garlick, Berta has shown to be a big success early on.
Not only have the club successfully signed six players, but in addition to the three deals already agreed, there is a confidence over both Saliba and Saka. Securing the futures of both players would be as important as any marquee signing.
Speaking in May, Arteta explained that he aligned with Berta during the interview process. The Italian’s ideas were all about taking the club to the next level, and his actions have certainly vindicated such a stance.
“Since day one, when we were interviewing for that role, he was very clear, ‘this is what we need to go to the next level,'” he said. “I was very aligned and you can tell with his experience, he’s built some great squads, he’s won major trophies, so someone with that clarity is very, very helpful.”
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