Update…wrote this this morning, but it didn’t send! So hitting it now. Have a good one folks!

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Morning Gooners. We all good on this Wednesday? I know I am. Weirdly I went out to a black tie do and I feel quite fresh this morning – think it’s because I headed the words of The Management and just “get up a little later”. So all things considered things are shaping up alright.

I will admit to being a little worried about a few Arsenal things though. Well, I would say three degrees of worried, about three specific things. And it relates to contracts.

If I start with the lowest tier of worry, it relates to our brilliant Brazilian boy, one of the ‘Gabbys’, Mr Martinelli, who after the Liverpool game admitted that the two parties are talking about extending his contract beyond 2024. Now with this one, I have the least amount of concern; Brazilian journos have sounded fairly positive a deal could be done, the player himself has said he wants to stay, he was even quoted recently saying he’d like to stay forever. Martinelli seems to have a good head on his shoulders and I am only the tiniest bit worried that something could go wrong. He’s a good lad and I like the sound of the way things are going, with even Mikel saying the club are working on things now.

But then we move to the next level down of worry that I have, which is with Bukayo Saka, who has said nice things and we all think he wants to stay, but until the ink is on the page there is always the doubt and the fact this has dragged out for what feels like an eternity, just makes me a little bit more anxious with every day. The good news here compared to any other contract is that Saka has been around the club forever; he’s a Hale End boy, he’s getting the love from manager, fans and everyone associated with the club, plus I’ve heard an interview with Ben White where he talks about how mature Saka is for someone who is such a young age. Saka hits my middle tier of worry and that’s mainly because we haven’t had any kind of confirmation despite positive noises from all sides. Waiting for the right moment, perhaps? Don’t know, but what I do know is that with every passing day I worry that the ears are pricking up at the likes of Man City, who would probably have no problem whatsoever with testing our resolve next summer if the player hasn’t signed. If they can get a knocked down price for him then they can tempt his agent with a mega deal. Imagine being told there’s £250k-per-week waiting for you if you stall on a new deal.

I guess the answer there is probably for Arsenal to pay that money. There might be a reticence at the club to smash the wave structure again; after all, our recent examples of Aubameyang and Özil hardly worked out perfectly when they got their mega money deals, did they? But Saka doesn’t feel like the kind of guy who would rest on his laurels. For one thing his age should preclude a desire for him to keep getting better. The Aubameyang and Özil deals were those “it’s my last big contract” deals and so both players were motivated by getting the big cash than trying to prove themselves. Both players were established names in the game and whilst Saka is starting to fit that bill, you just wonder if in his mind, he’ll be desperate to keep learning and keep getting better regardless of the big payday he’s about to get.

And so to the lowest tier of fear that I have with regards to contracts, which is our ‘Like A New Signing’ lad, big Willy Saliba. This one I worry about a lot more. For Martinelli he’s been very vocal and it feels like something the club can turn around quickly. For Saka it feels like there’s a personal connection at the club which will be really strong and I think a lot of us expect him to sign. But for Saliba there is perhaps not as closer connection. Sure, he had an Arsenal kit as a kid and sure, that recent long read on the official site was lovely to read and helped ease my worry somewhat, but again like Saka the longer this goes on the more concerned I’m getting because if a Man City come in, if a Real Madrid come in, or a PSG come in, offering him and his agent ALL THE MONIES, then have we got enough of a bond with the player built up for him to spurn any advances.

We’re all not stupid. We all know that clubs talk to players and agents way before they are ‘legally’ allowed to. I am in no doubt that some of those clubs will be at least letting him know they are watching and ‘following’ his contractual situation. And the longer time ticks on, the greater the chances of him ‘doing a Flamini’ increases. Remember that guys? Not the second time he joined, but the first, when he told us all season he wanted to sign a new deal, that he was happy at The Arsenal. But all the while he had Milan in his sights. When it came out he was signing for Milan it all seemed like things had been above board, etc, but to this day I remain convinced that he was probably made up on his mind to go to Milan from the previous summer. He and his agent had probably been in contact well before that deal was officially announced.

I guess we all carry our own historical baggage and that Flamini exit has certainly stuck with me. Hopefully these three lads can all sign up soon though and help alleviate this baggage on contracts I still have even to this day.

Catch you all tomorrow.