Bukayo Saka (7)

[EliteKiller]

If Spurs can keep Son and Kane when they have been performing the way they have for years then we have NO excuses in keeping our own top talent.

Kane signed for an additional 2 years when his last contract was down to three years, highly likely he will sign another extension this year. Son signed a new six year deal when he still had 2.5 years left on his old deal. Many clubs now automatically add a year every year, player gets security and a pay rise club maintains asset value. It's not that hard if you manage it properly.

[Angelito]

Well, I think Martinelli is also down to his last two years but haven't heard anything about a new contract for him.

Think Martinelli's contract runs up to 2025.

At this point is it even a discussion/negotiation anymore ?! Arsenal have zero leverage !!

Saka - I want a buy out clause of £xxm

Arsenal - No we can't agree to that

Saka - Cool beans, I won't renew my contract then.

Thats negotiation done then, we either give him what he wants or he won't sign, either way its win/win for Saka. Anyone see it any other way ?!!!

It's not that simple, I'm afraid.

Saka is of more value to us than we are to Saka. If he refuses to extend, we still won't be able to sell him this summer. We simply can't afford to let him go at this stage. Next summer, with a year to go in his contract, City or Liverpool would snatch him up for around £40m.

If you recall, Saka, Nketiah, and Balogun share the same agent. The same agent that brokered a £100k a week deal for Nketiah (inclusive of bonuses) and a £40k a week deal for Balogun!

I believe we will buckle down and offer Saka £150-200k a week in wages with a release clause.

This being a World Cup year, it will work in our favor. I doubt Saka would want to disrupt any momentum heading into a World Cup by joining a new team and risking the usual "accomodation" phase just prior to the biggest tournament of his life (so far).

By offering Nketiah £100k in wages, we've essentially doomed ourselves in any negotiation with Saka. £150k is the minimum he'd demand.

All of this was expected. Anyone who's followed Arsenal for more than two minutes knew this would be the case. That's why top-4 was essential this season.

I do think Saka will sign that extension. But he won't be here for more than two seasons.

[Hypergooner]

Why won't we be able to sell Saka this summer? He is great and all that but he is not irreplaceable for the right money.

We need to start being bolder in our negotiations like Daniel Levy! David Dean would not have allowed these contract mistakes to keep happening! Why should we be different to all the other clubs in the league when it comes to this stuff?
Tell these players to sign or f**k off! As you mentioned, it's a WC year. We hold the keys to their future. I am convinced Saka will sign but if he plays hard ball, it's be sold or don't play this side of the world cup.

[Highbury Hillbilly]

This guy needs a vacation more than a pay raise. Southgate needs to rest him soon otherwise we will be handing a £200k PW contract to a 21yo with the pace of fat Higuain.

[Hypergooner]

This guy needs a vacation more than a pay raise. Southgate needs to rest him soon otherwise we will be handing a £200k PW contract to a 21yo with the pace of fat Higuain.

Very true. He will end up like Jack Wilshere at this rate

[theHotHead]

It's not that simple, I'm afraid.

Saka is of more value to us than we are to Saka. If he refuses to extend, we still won't be able to sell him this summer. We simply can't afford to let him go at this stage. Next summer, with a year to go in his contract, City or Liverpool would snatch him up for around £40m.

If you recall, Saka, Nketiah, and Balogun share the same agent. The same agent that brokered a £100k a week deal for Nketiah (inclusive of bonuses) and a £40k a week deal for Balogun!

I believe we will buckle down and offer Saka £150-200k a week in wages with a release clause.

This being a World Cup year, it will work in our favor. I doubt Saka would want to disrupt any momentum heading into a World Cup by joining a new team and risking the usual "accomodation" phase just prior to the biggest tournament of his life (so far).

By offering Nketiah £100k in wages, we've essentially doomed ourselves in any negotiation with Saka. £150k is the minimum he'd demand.

All of this was expected. Anyone who's followed Arsenal for more than two minutes knew this would be the case. That's why top-4 was essential this season.

I do think Saka will sign that extension. But he won't be here for more than two seasons.

Whether we can sell him or not is of no real consequence to Saka though. If we don't extend we keep him he runs down his contract and goes, if we do extend he gets what he wants otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to extend. Thats why I said its not really a negotiation anymore, we either do what he wants or he goes for free when his contract is up anyway.

[22-0]

If saka doesn't resign then that's a clear sign that arteta has failed. trust the process.

[Zenith]

Players running down their contracts is not an Arsenal-exclusive, or for that matter an Arteta problem, but an issue that's omnipresent in world football.

-Man United have lost Mata, Cavani, Matic, Lingard, and Pogba for nothing. Ronaldo, Heaton, DdG, Shaw, Jones, Fred, Dalot, and Rashford are set to enter the last year of their contracts.

-Despite their infinite financial resources, Man City have so far been unable to extend the contracts of Jesus, Sterling, Gündoğan, and Mahrez. That's excluding Mendy's legal situation.

-Chelsea just lost their two most valuable CBs in Christensen and Rüdiger for a combined zilch. Then there's a host of squad players who've also moved on for no transfer fees. Chelsea have an additional 8 players whose contracts expire in 2023. That list includes their club captain, as well as Kanté. Or what about Tuchel's £100m striker who doesn't get a look in? Different discussion, but still.

At Arsenal we've lost Lacazette on a free, and it looks like we're overpaying Nketiah to stay. Other than that we have just one player with a year left on his deal in Leno, and he's going to be sold. All other players' contracts run until 2024, 2025, or 2026, so their value is extremely well-protected in the current climate.

But hey let's praise how well contracts are being handled by other clubs, whilst continuing to slit our wrists about hypothetical doom scenarios.

[Est83]

Players running down their contracts is not an Arsenal-exclusive, or for that matter an Arteta problem, but an issue that's omnipresent in world football.

-Man United have lost Mata, Cavani, Matic, Lingard, and Pogba for nothing. Ronaldo, Heaton, DdG, Shaw, Jones, Fred, Dalot, and Rashford are set to enter the last year of their contracts.

-Despite their infinite financial resources, Man City have so far been unable to extend the contracts of Jesus, Sterling, Gündoğan, and Mahrez. That's excluding Mendy's legal situation.

-Chelsea just lost their two most valuable CBs in Christensen and Rüdiger for a combined zilch. Then there's a host of squad players who've also moved on for no transfer fees. Chelsea have an additional 8 players whose contracts expire in 2023. That list includes their club captain, as well as Kanté. Or what about their £100m striker who doesn't get a look in? Different discussion, but still.

At Arsenal we've lost Lacazette on a free, and it looks like we're overpaying Nketiah to stay. Other than that we have just one player with a year left on his deal in Leno, and he's going to be sold. All other players' contracts run until 2024, 2025, or 2026, so their value is extremely well-protected in the current climate.

But hey let's praise how well contracts are being handled by other clubs, whilst continuing to slit our wrists about hypothetical doom scenarios.

Well said.

I think there have been a number of avoidable situations in the past which have helped give us this "joke of a club" "pathetic behind the scenes" narrative which some supporters are all too happy to indulge in when venting. I get it, it's fair and natural, it gets like this when people are so emotionally invested, and I think a lot of it started when Wenger began taking on one too many roles behind the scenes at Arsenal... and it's just snowballed. But sometimes we need some perspective.

[Rockape]

Wise words from our Mods, its not an Arsenal thing....ever since the Bosman ruling, players and their Agents are aware they have the power.

Besides, its all well and good demanding loyalty from a player, but this is their life, their career and possibly the only chance they have when the odds are stacked in their favour.

Would we all change our allegience to Arsenal for £500k-£1m? Sadly I would....much as I love my Club/team, that money would be life changing.

[22-0]

Yeah nasri was a great guy

[StockGooner]

Zenith makes a great point

I think now we have been seeing clubs now being so greedy for players that hit a bit of form being worth £70m-£100m (A la Nunez maybe?), that we will see more players run down their deals, with the examples that Zenith has mentioned and Mbappe just another.

That is one element, but also you can be these players with a lower/nil transfer fee will get huge signing fees. For all the talk of Haaland being so cheap at £50m, his signing bonus and his agent bonus would top that up to a sizeable investment.

[EliteKiller]

Players running down their contracts is not an Arsenal-exclusive, or for that matter an Arteta problem, but an issue that's omnipresent in world football.

-Man United have lost Mata, Cavani, Matic, Lingard, and Pogba for nothing. Ronaldo, Heaton, DdG, Shaw, Jones, Fred, Dalot, and Rashford are set to enter the last year of their contracts.

-Despite their infinite financial resources, Man City have so far been unable to extend the contracts of Jesus, Sterling, Gündoğan, and Mahrez. That's excluding Mendy's legal situation.

-Chelsea just lost their two most valuable CBs in Christensen and Rüdiger for a combined zilch. Then there's a host of squad players who've also moved on for no transfer fees. Chelsea have an additional 8 players whose contracts expire in 2023. That list includes their club captain, as well as Kanté. Or what about Tuchel's £100m striker who doesn't get a look in? Different discussion, but still.

At Arsenal we've lost Lacazette on a free, and it looks like we're overpaying Nketiah to stay. Other than that we have just one player with a year left on his deal in Leno, and he's going to be sold. All other players' contracts run until 2024, 2025, or 2026, so their value is extremely well-protected in the current climate.

But hey let's praise how well contracts are being handled by other clubs, whilst continuing to slit our wrists about hypothetical doom scenarios.

You cant be serious? Comparing us to City, Utd and Chelsea for player sales? Let's see 2018 - 2021

Chelsea income 300m - Utd income 118m - City income 217m ................ Arsenal income 73m.

True enough players approaching, or over, thirty are often allowed to run down contracts as their resale value declines, but not your highest value young players ... that's madness.

But hey if you think were doing it well, then good on you.

[swipe right]

Omari Hutchinson will make Saka look like Gervinho.

[theHotHead]

Players running down their contracts is not an Arsenal-exclusive, or for that matter an Arteta problem, but an issue that's omnipresent in world football.

-Man United have lost Mata, Cavani, Matic, Lingard, and Pogba for nothing. Ronaldo, Heaton, DdG, Shaw, Jones, Fred, Dalot, and Rashford are set to enter the last year of their contracts.

-Despite their infinite financial resources, Man City have so far been unable to extend the contracts of Jesus, Sterling, Gündoğan, and Mahrez. That's excluding Mendy's legal situation.

-Chelsea just lost their two most valuable CBs in Christensen and Rüdiger for a combined zilch. Then there's a host of squad players who've also moved on for no transfer fees. Chelsea have an additional 8 players whose contracts expire in 2023. That list includes their club captain, as well as Kanté. Or what about Tuchel's £100m striker who doesn't get a look in? Different discussion, but still.

At Arsenal we've lost Lacazette on a free, and it looks like we're overpaying Nketiah to stay. Other than that we have just one player with a year left on his deal in Leno, and he's going to be sold. All other players' contracts run until 2024, 2025, or 2026, so their value is extremely well-protected in the current climate.

But hey let's praise how well contracts are being handled by other clubs, whilst continuing to slit our wrists about hypothetical doom scenarios.

I'm going to pretend I didn't see EK's response because I wanted to post my own reply.

Zenith, Mata, Cavani and Matic had very little resale value anyway, Lingard increased his by having a good loan spell at West Ham, but then went back to Man U to be a bench warmer. Pogba is the only player worth mentioning as a genuine car crash of lost asset value. how mush are Fred and Shaw worth ? Not much

Ok, if City lose those players for on a free, thats a significant hit, but they don't care because money doesn't mean anything to them ! It means everything to us, thats why we moved to the Emirates, so we can compete with those clubs.

Chelsea losing Christensen and Rudiger isn't even a blip on the scale, how much are CBs generally worth ? Rudiger isn't exactly 23 and Christensen is nothing special. Plus ... Chelsea don't have money issues.

This Saka situation has the makings of being an absolute mess brought on ourselves by incompetent management across the board !