Arteta relaxed over Arsenal contract talks
Mikel Arteta says he and the Arsenal hierarchy are fully aligned when it comes to extending his contract and insists he’s relaxed about negotiations despite entering the final year of his current deal.
The Spaniard took charge of the Gunners in December 2019 before being promoted from head coach to manager less than a year later. He signed his current contract in September 2024, but after delivering Arsenal’s first league title in 22 years, a lucrative new deal is expected to follow.
With Pep Guardiola having departed Manchester City this summer, Arteta is now the longest-serving manager in English professional football, a reflection not only of the job he has done in north London but also of how fleeting managerial tenures have become elsewhere. A new contract would likely take him close to a decade in charge and move him into the club’s five longest-serving managers, alongside the likes of Arsene Wenger, George Allison and Bertie Mee.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield against Manchester City, Arteta sought to reassure supporters that there was no cause for concern.
“You don’t have to worry about any of that because I want to be here, I’m extremely happy, I feel very grateful to work with the people that I work with and whenever we have the possibility we will resolve that and that’s it.
“There’s always another priority I think and that’s the way we’ve been treating it because everybody feels comfortable that the time on the contract is not going to be an issue.
“My will certainly is to be here and I’m very happy here and my feeling from the club is the same one so I think that’s why everybody is doing things in a really organic way.”
For now, Arteta’s priority is assembling a squad capable of defending the Premier League title. The arrivals of Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis have strengthened the group, but Arsenal continue to explore opportunities to add another attacking player and cover for the injured William Saliba.
There is also likely to be movement in the opposite direction. Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Jesus and Reiss Nelson are all expected to move on before the transfer window closes, while recent speculation has suggested that, for the right offer, even some bigger names could become available. Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Zubimendi and Myles Lewis-Skelly have all been linked with interest from elsewhere, although whether any of those rumours develop into genuine bids remains to be seen.
Asked whether he already has enough attacking firepower at his disposal, Arteta’s answer came with an important caveat.
“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 are going to prepare to elevate our level for sure, expecting that the rest will do the same because that is traditionally what happened in the league in the last few years and that is the way we have planned the season and the way we want to evolve the team.”
He added: “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.”
For all the transfer speculation and contract talk, Arteta’s message was a familiar one. Arsenal won’t stand still because they’ve won the title. The manager believes his squad can reach another level, and he’s the right man to oversee its evolution.
Top 10 Arsenal managers by tenure
1. Arsene Wenger
1996-2018 | 21 years, 7 months, 12 (57.25% win rate)
2. George Allison
1934-1947 | 13 years, 4 days (46.24% win rate)
3. Bertie Mee
1966-1976 |9 years, 10 months, 15 days (44.71% win rate)
4. Tom Whittaker
1947-1956 | 9 years, 4 months, 23 days (47.21% win rate)
5. George Graham
1986-1995 | 8 years, 9 months, 7 days (48.91% win rate)
6. Herbert Chapman
1925-1934 |8 years, 6 months, 27 days (49.64% win rate)
7. Terry Neill
1976-1983 | 7 years, 5 months, 7 days (44.95%)
8. George Morrell
1908-1915 | 7 years, 2 months, 3 days (36.57% win rate)
9. Mikel Arteta
2019 – | 6 years, 7 months, 23 days (60.34% win rate)
10. Leslie Knighton
1919-1925 | 5 years, 11 months, 22 days (36.71% win rate)
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