Although Mikel Arteta has been mentioned as a factor in players wanting to stay at the Emirates, don’t you think it would have been difficult for Arsenal to keep some of their best talent if they didn’t have Champions League football next season?
By the beginning of this year, it was clear that Arsenal’s future was bright. Bright in the sense that even if they did not win the league, it was almost certain that they would qualify for next season’s Champions League.
It’s no coincidence that six players have signed new contracts in the last few months: Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka (who Dean Jones says could have moved to Manchester City if Arsenal didn’t qualify for the Champions League), Aaron Ramsdale, and Reiss-Nelson, but it’s worth noting that none of them put pen to paper until we were guaranteed a place in the Top Four of the EPL.
As previously said, Dean Jones, speaking about Saka promising his future to Arsenal, says that the 21-year-old would have easily pushed for the exit door if he wasn’t guaranteed a place in the next Champions League competition.
Jones claimed: “If they hadn’t made top four last season, I think he would’ve left by now. I think this summer you would have seen Saka playing somewhere else. I think he would’ve been at Man City because they liked him. He wouldn’t have been able to wait any longer.”
Is the Champions League element a key thing that has made Arteta’s project more appealing, to the point that even transfer targets prefer Arsenal over teams like Manchester City?
Darren N
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