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Arsenal contract talks update: Wilshere, The Ox, Ozil, Alexis & more

By mac14 on January 18, 2017

According to the Evening Standard, Arsenal have yet to open formal talks with Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain over new contracts, placing their future’s at the club in further doubt.

Arsenal have been concentrating their efforts in recent months on tying current players down to fresh extensions rather than trying to bring in new talent during the January transfer window.

Much of the focus has been on star duo Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, who’ve both got just 18 months left to run on their contracts, but we’ve so far been unable to agree fresh terms despite holding several rounds of talks with their representatives.

Negotiations are expected to continue over the coming months but the Evening Standard say that no ‘tangible’ progress has been made as yet so we’re still sweating over their futures.

The club have had more luck with our French contingent as Francis Coquelin, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny all put pen-to-paper on extensions earlier this month while Per Mertesacker and Santi Cazorla are also being tipped to sign new one-year deals soon.

However, three players appear to have been overlooked as Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gibbs and Wilshere have also entered the final 18 months of their current deals and the Evening Standard claim that Arsenal chiefs have not even started negotiations with their agents over new contracts.

Arsene Wenger has publicly claimed that he wants all three to stay but understandably this has cast fresh doubt over the English trio’s long-term future at the Emirates as the club are clearly in no rush to tie them down to extensions.

Wilshere is currently starring during his season long loan at Bournemouth which has led to calls from fans that he should be given another chance to succeed at Arsenal next year but it remains to be seen what the future holds for the 25-year-old.

With Cazorla crocked due to his troublesome Achilles and unlikely to be able to play regularly even if he does stay beyond this season, I think it makes perfect sense for Wilshere to come back to Arsenal and replace the Spaniard. However, we’ll have to wait and see what’s decided in the summer.

I think we’ll see Gibbs finally leave at the end of the season as he’s struggled to hold down a first team place and we’re actively looking for a new left-back but it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with The Ox.

There is no doubt he’s failed to develop as we all hoped since he joined from Southampton but he’s made big improvements this season and I’d be gutted if he was to leave this summer.

The 23-year-old claimed back in October that he’ll consider his future at the end of the season and make a decision based on the number of games he plays. Currently, The Ox has featured in 27 games in all competitions so far which is the joint highest in the whole squad [tied with Sanchez].

However, he’s only started 13 games, which is less than Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi, Granit Xhaka, Francis Coquelin and Theo Walcott, so he’s still not regarded as an important first team regular just yet.

Let’s hope we’re able to agree terms with the midfielder as he’s got bags of potential and I’d hate to see him fulfill it at one of our rivals.