Much has been made of how far Arsenal have come under Mikel Arteta.
But it’s not just the manager that is responsible for the revolutionary change at the club over the last seven years. After all, it was those above him who very easily could have cut ties during several low moments in the earlier years of Arteta’s tenure.
The patience shown from the top down has been as important as anything Arteta has done on the training pitch. And nowhere is that institutional improvement more evident than in how Arsenal now handle contracts.
Back when the club was run by Dick Law and Ivan Gazidis, contracts were frequently allowed to tick down into the final 12 to 18 months, which ruined Arsenal’s leverage in negotiations.
The club’s best players used to use their negotiating power to essentially box the club into a corner, where they would either be forced to pay them astronomical wages, ala Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, or lose them for nothing or close to it, ala Aaron Ramsey and Alexis Sanchez.
These stories would also run throughout the season as irritating background noise, where a lot of the focus in the press would be on off-pitch issues, rather than what was happening on it. Thankfully, those days are long gone.
Arsenal have completely transformed their contract approach
These days, led by Josh Kroenke and Richard Garlick, Arsenal set the terms. The club treats the two-year mark as an important threshold. If a key player reaches two years remaining on their deal, talks of a renewal get underway in the background.
If agreement doesn’t come to fruition, decisions are taken early and that way you avoid the messy, season-long soap operas that once plagued the club.
Arteta’s own contract extension until 2030 is the clearest possible expression of that philosophy from the top down. There’s a sense of stability and security there. Players now know who will coach them, what style they will play and what they are building towards for the next four years.
Declan Rice is next, with talks at an advanced stage, and extensions for Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber are expected to follow. Both Kai Havertz and David Raya have deals expiring in 2028 as well, suggesting those two situations will be addressed soon too.
All in all, it is probably one of the most important things Arsenal have changed in recent years. Tying down the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba early, before the European giants can come knocking, has been crucial to their success. They deserve enormous credit for it.