In early November, Gabriel Martinelli told a news conference that he was so keen to sign a new contract with Arsenal that the club “just needs to pick up a pen”. And yet, seven weeks later, there has still been no announcement about a new contract for the Brazilian international.
Martinelli’s situation is not unique. At the end of August, Bukayo Saka stated that he shared manager Mikel Arteta’s confidence that he would land a new contract at the Emirates Stadium. However, for Arsenal fans, an increasingly anxious wait continues.
There is more. William Saliba is another in talks to extend his contract; Aaron Ramsdale has started discussions over revised terms to reflect his No. 1 goalkeeper status. There are also contractual issues to be resolved beyond the first team: Arsenal are this week set to activate a two-year option on promising midfielder Charlie Patino, to prevent the 19-year-old’s contract from expiring at the end of the season. On the academy side, Arsenal face competition for the signings of promising youngsters Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Anthony Lewis-Skelly.
Inevitably, fans wonder: why is it taking so long? In most of these cases, Arsenal are believed to want to keep the player, and the individual is happy to stay. So why the delay?
The first thing to say is that the club is not negotiating directly with the player. Martinelli can say whatever he wants to the media, but when it comes to the details of his contract, he won’t be the only one talking. The player can actually be removed from the process, with their representative in dialogue with sporting director Edu or head of football operations Richard Garlick.
When a significant first-team contract is being renegotiated, some kind of face-to-face conversation is likely to take place between the player and club representatives. Typically, the player will meet with Arteta and/or Edu to discuss their respective expectations and assess intentions. This is an important part of the process: this is where buy-in is created. Salaries and contract length are rarely part of these conversations. If there is a consensus that club and player wish to continue working together, it indicates a willingness on both sides to compromise when negotiations reach a critical point.
There is an informal courting process that is almost entirely separate from the hard numbers. Arsenal’s task here is to make every player, at every level, feel like a priority. That’s a tough balancing act when they have so much time and staff resources. A gesture like inviting Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly to the first-team training camp mid-season can go a long way. A word from Arteta – if he has the time – carries even more weight. First-team players such as Saka and Martinelli will be well aware of their place in the manager’s plans. Others may need more convincing that there is a clear path for them.
Nwaneri during training at the London Colney in September (Photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Once these informal conversations take place, there’s still a long way to go – even if the player has indicated a clear willingness to stay. The numbers, terms and details of the contract have not yet been defined. This process will be handled by the player’s representative.
The agent’s job is to get the player to get the best deal possible. The job of the Arsenal team is to get the best possible deal for the club. Inevitably, this invites provocation. Talk to football people and they will tell you that sometimes delays are a vital part of negotiations. Neither party wants to appear too interested, too desperate, too willing. A missed phone call or a few days of radio silence can be effective power plays—both ways.
As much as the club is trying to keep the player, it’s important to remember that the agent is also trying to keep him. There are only a finite number of contract renegotiations a football player will have in his career. This provides the key opportunity for the agent to demonstrate their worth and convince the player that they should continue to work together. It’s a balancing act for the rep – allowing conversations to drag on too long and players can become disgruntled.
For a young player like Saliba, there really is a sliding scale. The longer the club wants him to commit, the more they have to pay. This is effectively the reverse of what tends to happen with older players, where contract length is more desirable than base pay. One of the reasons Saliba’s contract remains unsigned for now is that Arsenal are not offering a salary that their representatives see as commensurate with the long contract the club want to tie him to – and so negotiations continue.
Even after personal terms are agreed, there is the thorny issue of agent fees to consider. It is not unheard of for the player’s terms to be fully agreed upon, but the signing of the contract is delayed while the club and agent negotiate the commission. This is an important part of negotiations that should not be overlooked.
The perception is that Arsenal must be in a hurry to close these deals, but there are two factors that offer some reassurance. Firstly, in many cases they have contract options: Martinelli’s contract runs until 2024, but Arsenal have the option to run for two more years. This makes the situation markedly less urgent from their point of view. Saliba and Saka’s contracts don’t go beyond 2024, even with extensions, which makes their situations more pressing.
Martinelli was on duty at the World Cup with Brazil (Photo: Ulrik Pedersen/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Even so, Arsenal are given some protection by the transfer window schedule. Clubs know they can’t afford to lose a player outside of January or summer, and that means negotiations between those windows can drag on. It’s part of human nature to work with deadlines: on the last day of the window, a contract can be closed in a matter of hours. Outside of that, it tends to fluctuate.
It’s also worth noting that every week a club stops raising a player’s salary is a week they save money. If they are confident that an agreement will be reached, it is more expensive to get there quickly.
There are other practical considerations that could delay negotiations, such as when Martinelli, Saliba and Saka were selected for the World Cup in Qatar.
Whilst this did not necessarily pose a stumbling block to the negotiations – many agents had traveled to the region for the tournament and Arsenal held a training camp in Dubai attended by senior officials – there was a collective desire not to derail the players’ focus during the tournament. 🇧🇷 Agents also knew that good showings in Qatar could strengthen their hand – Saka’s shares are likely to have risen considerably during the World Cup. Now that the players are back at Arsenal, negotiations are expected to accelerate.
Many of these questions are quite general – they will be familiar in every club. But is there something that means Arsenal move slower than most? There are three parts to squad building: recruiting, retaining, and selling. Some in football feel that while Arsenal have proven to be an effective recruiter, when it comes to the other two elements there is still room for improvement.
Dealing with Arsenal can be a more time-consuming – and sometimes more frustrating – experience than haggling with other Premier League clubs.
The main reason for this is the process: any contract offer Arsenal intend to make must be approved by the board before being presented to a player or his representative. This is ostensibly a positive thing: it means there is oversight of the football business from those who govern the club. It can, however, slow things down. There are other clubs where chief executives have more freedom to be flexible with numbers.
Nobody at Arsenal seems particularly panicked about the ongoing contract talks. They seem to feel, particularly in the case of first-team stars like Saka, Saliba, Martinelli and Ramsdale, that there is enough goodwill to bring these talks to a positive conclusion. Ultimately, any deal will be a compromise between club preference and player demands.
But the World Cup is over, the transfer window is almost open and the clock is ticking. An agent wouldn’t be doing his job if he wasn’t at least prepared to hear offers from elsewhere. Until those deals are signed, fans will be worried.
When it comes to player retention, Arsenal has a considerable to-do list. It’s time to start ticking off some more items.
(Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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