New contracts key for what Arsenal 'trying to build'

Mikel Arteta said continuing to tie down key players with new contracts is key for what Arsenal are trying to build.

Martin Odegaard, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have all signed fresh deals with the Gunners recently and the club is currently holding talks with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White.

"That is what we have been doing in the last few years to strengthen the squad with rewards and have some stability," Arteta said. "Those decisions are very important obviously.

"The players have deserved [new deals] with their performances and the way they have behaved. It gives us stability. They are at a brilliant age as well and there is still much more to come from them. That was the initial plan.

"It is something they have earned and that made the squad much stronger. Credit to Edu, to the board and everyone that planned those sequences to keep evolving the squad in the right way.

"Without top players, without a top quality squad in this league with the demands we have it is impossible to do it. That’s why we are trying to build and evolve, to be better and be more precise."

This is BBC Sport's dedicated Arsenal page. Hit the bell icon on the app to receive notifications or press 'Follow' if you are on a browser to bookmark the page.