Mikel Arteta 'confident' over Bukayo Saka contract talks
By Tom Gott
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed he is confident that an agreement will soon be reached to extend Bukayo Saka's contract.
Saka has entered the final 12 months of his current deal but Arsenal hold the option to extend that by a further year and have already made it clear to the young winger that they will trigger that extension if an agreement over fresh terms is not reached soon.
90min understands that Saka has been in no rush to start discussing a new contract, but interest in the England international from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester City has left Arsenal keen to sort a deal out as soon as possible.
"I am very confident that we as a club and Bukayo, his family, his agent, everybody, we are very much aligned in what we want to achieve," Arteta told a press conference. "And now it is about putting it on a piece of paper.
"I would like that to get done, because I don’t want the player or anybody distracted while we are in the middle of the season. But those things take time and they have to go through the right process, and I think the process has been really good."
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Saka is understood to be happy with life at Arsenal and has been impressed by the club's recruitment this summer.
Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have made immediate impacts at the Emirates, while returning loanee William Saliba has also wasted little time in improving the team, and Saka is known to be satisfied by the strength of the Gunners' squad.
Arsenal are just one of two teams to have won their opening two Premier League games, alongside long-time Saka admirers Manchester City.