Mikel Arteta is staying. Arsenal confirmed on 7 October that he's signed a new contract to 2030, replacing one that was due to run out in June. It runs four years at over £20m a year, according to The Guardian. No Premier League manager would be paid more. Fine. That's the going rate for a title. Last season Arsenal finally won the league, ending 22 years of waiting and three straight second places. You don't let the man who did that drift towards the end of his deal. He's 44 and has won 220 of his 361 games in charge. He called the new deal "only the beginning of what we can achieve together", and I'd hold him to it. The Champions League final went to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties, which leaves Europe as the obvious unfinished business. It settles who does the job. It doesn't make the job any smaller.
Arteta's deal is done. Declan Rice's is close, according to BBC Sport, and it would bring a significant pay rise on wages that are already big. On paper there's no rush. His contract runs to 2028, and Arsenal hold the option of another year. That's exactly when to do it. Arsenal paid West Ham a club-record £100m up front for him in 2023. Another £5m was due in add-ons. He's made 165 appearances, scoring 21 and setting up 33. After the defeat at the Etihad in April, he was heard telling the squad: "It's not done." The title proved him right. I'd give him whatever length he asks for.
Neither deal matters much on Saturday, when Leeds come to the Emirates. The break, the longest mid-season one since the 2022 World Cup, is finally over. Arsenal haven't played at home since beating Chelsea 2-1 over a month ago. Four players came back early injured. The two that worry me are Kai Havertz and Christos Tzolis. Both have hamstring problems that could cost them a few weeks, according to Arseblog News. Max Dowman picked up a knock playing for England's Under-19s against the United States. He set up a goal in a 2-1 win, then got a straight red. Others came back flying. Martin Odegaard played all 360 minutes of Norway's four Nations League games and made four goals. Viktor Gyokeres scored four in four for Sweden. Mikel Merino scored three and made one in 109 minutes for Spain. If Havertz is out, I'd start Merino against Leeds.
The squad is back from its travels. Not everyone at the club is. Svenja Geissmar has left her post as Arsenal's general counsel after 17 years. Her LinkedIn dates her time there from September 2009 to August 2026. She was the club's first in-house lawyer, sat on the Executive Team and ran Legal, Safeguarding and Data Protection. Her department's remit ran from transfers and player contracts to agents and the governing bodies. Arsenal haven't announced her exit or said who takes on her work. They should. Chief Commercial Officer Juliet Slot left in the summer, and there's no suggestion the two departures are connected. Earlier exits included vice-chair Tim Lewis and technical director James Ellis. No single exit is a crisis. The list is getting long.
Geissmar sat on the board of the WSL, a league in which Arsenal Women are 10th after five games, so Cooney-Cross being named their Player of the Month for September is a rare bit of good news.
Max Dowman's break brought a goal as well as that red card, while Harriman-Annous made an international debut.
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