Arsenal - David Ornstein
A champion manager in the last year of a contract is a problem clubs prefer to close quietly. The announcement is usually short. The work sits in the years that follow.
Backroom staff tend to be renewed in the same window. If the head coach stays, the people who built the training ground stay with him.
That is how a title season turns into a project rather than a one-off. The league table from May only holds if the same group is still there in October.
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David Ornstein reports that Mikel Arteta has agreed an improved contract with Arsenal. His existing deal was due to expire in the summer of 2027 after he last signed fresh terms in September 2024.
The 44-year-old has been in the job since December 2019. Last season he led Arsenal to a first Premier League title in 22 years and a second Champions League final, lost on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain.
His coaching staff are also in the process of renewing their deals after that title.
Ornstein does not put a new end date on the agreement. The BBC reported earlier on Tuesday that the improved terms would take him into at least his tenth year at the Emirates and include a sharp rise on his current £10million-a-year salary plus £5million in bonuses. The Athletic has not confirmed those figures.
After the title was sealed on 19 May, when Manchester City drew with Bournemouth, co-chairman Josh Kroenke called keeping Arteta an “utmost priority”.
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In August Arteta said he wanted to stay and that the club would “resolve” the contract. Last week he told supporters: “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.”
He has now taken charge of 360 Arsenal games and is the longest-serving manager in England’s top four divisions. Three second-place finishes from 2023 to 2025 came before the title. The club has also been nominated for the Ballon d’Or Best Club award for 2026.
Art de Roché writes that delaying the signature until the final year of the old deal should not worry anyone. The 2024 extension followed the same timing.
The 3-0 defeat at Brighton on Saturday was the first league loss of the season. Arsenal had won seven in a row in all competitions before that. The new contract is not a response to the Amex. It is the paperwork on a dynasty Arteta said he wanted to build from a position of strength.
Leeds at home on 10 October is the next league date. By then the manager who wanted to be here will be contracted beyond next summer, and the staff who won the league will be following him through the same door.
Arsenal defender William Saliba
Arsenal defender William Saliba