Mikel Arteta relaxed over contract as Arsenal prepare for Community Shield
Mikel Arteta said on Friday he is relaxed about his Arsenal contract expiring at the end of the new season as his team prepare for the Community Shield in Cardiff on Sunday, and added his side will need to improve on last season to defend their title successfully.
Arsenal enter the new campaign as Premier League champions and are heavy favourites to win back-to-back league titles for the first time since the 1930s. The departure of Pep Guardiola from Manchester City has made Arteta the Premier League’s longest-serving manager; he joined in December 2019. Arteta signed a three-year contract extension in September 2024 after Arsenal finished as runners-up to City and had been expected to agree a new deal over the summer that would make him one of the highest-paid managers in the world.
Arteta acknowledged on Friday that his priorities this summer have been on strengthening the squad but he sought to reassure supporters about his commitment. "They don’t have to worry about any of that, because I want to be here. I am extremely happy. I feel very grateful to work with the people that I work with and when we have the possibility, we will resolve that. And that’s it," he said.
Asked if he expects talks over a new contract to continue after the transfer window, Arteta added: "There is always another priority, I think. And that’s the way we have been treating it, I think because everybody feels comfortable that the time on the contract is not going to be an issue. I think because my will, certainly, is to be here and I am very happy here. My feeling from the club is the same one. That is why everyone is doing things in a really organic way."
On recruitment, Arsenal have opened negotiations with Bayer Leverkusen over a move for Jarell Quansah as they seek cover for William Saliba and Jurriën Timber, and remain in the market for another attacker if they can offload Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus. After missing out on Vinícius Júnior when the Brazil forward opted to sign a new deal with Real Madrid, Arteta defended Arsenal’s summer strategy and said he remains content with his squad and the club’s ambition. "I am really happy with the squad, the players that I have and I am really happy with the ambition of the club. There is zero question about that. We have shown that in the manner we have tried to act," he said.
Arteta underlined a preference for the club to operate within its own framework rather than mirror other clubs’ structures. "But I think we need to do it our own way. We have super strengths and we have other areas we need to be very conscious [of] because we don’t have the elements or the structure that other clubs have. We need to do it our way. We are always on it that way and we will do what we believe is the right thing to do. To have the best possibility to compete in every competition that’s for sure."
He added that Arsenal will prepare to raise their level while assuming rivals will do likewise: "We’re going to prepare to elevate our level, expecting that the rest will do the same. That’s traditionally what happened in the league in the last few years, and that’s the way we have planned the season, and the way we want to evolve the team."
Arteta’s comments come ahead of Arsenal’s Community Shield meeting with Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City in Cardiff on Sunday.