The performances of these two Arsenal stars have improved under Mikel Arteta.
Mikel Arteta’s project is well underway, having won two trophies over the last few months. Granted, the Community Shield is not as prestigious as the FA Cup, but it was still nice to see Arsenal lift this honour before the season commences; it’ll give them a handy confidence boost.
As they look to prepare for the new season, which will be the first full season under Arteta, they will be looking for an improvement on last season, in which they finished eighth in the table. To do so, they have been active in the transfer window, securing the signings of Willian, Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares. They are also in the race to sign Philippe Coutinho and Gabriel Magalhaes.
But what’s just as if not more important than signing players, is keeping the players that have served them well up to this point. We all know about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and how the Gunners need to keep him but there are also some players that go under the radar who need to be kept.
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According to a new report from the Mirror, Arsenal are working on securing the contract extensions of two first-team stars; Emiliano Martinez and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, both of which were key to Arsenal’s community shield triumph recently, with the latter claiming man of the match.
Martinez has truly stepped up to the occasion since the injury of Bernd Leno against Brighton. Having been in the ranks at Arsenal for many seasons, he has learned a lot from the likes of Cech. He finally got a chance to prove himself on a consistent basis and he has relished the opportunity, being pivotal to the two trophy wins.
It’s good to see that Arsenal are finally prioritising keeping their first-team stars, as this is something that has let them down in recent times, losing the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey.
Do you think Arsenal will keep ahold of these two stars?