Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka is close to agreeing terms on a new long-term contract with the club, sources have told ESPN.
Arsenal triggered an option at the turn of the year to extend his existing agreement through to 2024 while talks continued over a fresh deal.
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Sources have told ESPN those conversations have progressed positively in recent weeks and the 21-year-old is set for a bumper pay rise from his current wage, thought to be around £70,000-a-week.
Saka is believed to have privately stated his desire to stay at Emirates Stadium and a final agreement is close in a move which will signal Arsenal’s intent to continuing challenging for major honours.
Speaking at a Friday news conference ahead of Arsenal’s weekend Premier League trip to Leicester City, manager Mikel Arteta refused to confirm the news but suggested the club were planning for the future after also tying down Gabriel Martinelli to a new contract.
ESPN reported last month that Arsenal were also attempting to step up talks with centreback William Saliba as the two parties remained some way apart in their attempts to find an agreement.
“We want to keep our best players,” Arteta said. “The players that we are developing. We want to create a long-term project here and we need our best players at the club.
“Our responsibility [is] to keep our best players and people and the people who has the same aims and purposes with the club and stick them together for a while and give them some stability and from there keep evolving and from there become a better club.”
Arteta has raised concerns that Saka has not been sufficiently protected by referees in recent weeks.
He is the ninth-most fouled player in the Premier League, having been fouled 40 times, but Arsenal feel many challenges have gone unpunished and Arteta revealed after last weekend’s win at Aston Villa the club could review the data before potentially raising the issue with referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited.
“I’m sure refs want to protect every game and individuals in the best possible way,” Arteta said. “There is a lot of focus now on Bukayo, and we need to keep that in mind as a team with the plans that we put together, understanding what the opponents are doing but for sure referees have their responsibilities and they have to do their jobs.
“Hopefully [there is] not [an injury coming soon] but we have to train that and he needs to learn when to take certain balls, what to do with that ball, how to use his body, when to jump. There are a lot of things we can train but obviously it is very difficult to understand what the opponent is going to do.”