Arsenal hierarchy to make £25m Mikel Arteta investment

The Arsenal project is more than underway. Rarely do supporters bear witness to this volume of upheaval across such a short and hectic space of time.

Not only has the squad been gutted, trimmed and re-imagined, the structure of the club from the top down has also been shaken up, all throughout Mikel Arteta’s 26-month tenure. The manager has even had time for a promotion during that spell.

This season it’s all about taking the project to the next level. Internally the goals have always been, as they always should be, to reestablish Arsenal as a Champions League side. Doing so can only be achieved this season through finishing in the top for.

Should Arsenal resist similar charges from Manchester United, Tottenham, West Ham and Wolves, then everything about the relevance and perception of the club will have changed. Securing a top four would be wonders for this project and open up new doors in the summer.

Arsenal hierarchy to make £25m Mikel Arteta investment with new three year manager contract worth £8.3m per year

It will also vindicate Arteta, who has been front and centre of this rebuild. Through thick and thin the club have stuck with him. They believe in ‘project Arteta’, and this doesn’t look set to change.

Heavily rumoured to be nearing a new contract, Mark Irwin has provided details on that seemingly inevitable offer.

Owner Stan Kroenke is keen to demonstrate his confidence in the 39-year-old – the youngest manager in the Premier League – with a new three-year deal worth £8.3m per year being drawn up for the summer. Currently earning £5m annually, his pay rise would equal that of Arsene Wenger prior to his departure.

Heavily reported is that another summer of significant spending is on the horizon for Arsenal. Arteta’s ability to manage upwards is a key strength of his, and a recent trip to Denver to meet with Stan centered around agreeing a budget for the upcoming transfer window. Arsenal want Arteta to front that, just as he did in the previous summer.

Handing a new deal to Arteta, who has 16 months remaining on his current contract, feels like the logical next step. There are vastly important player contracts to arrange as well – Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli – but Arteta’s future is also on the club’s mind.

It feels inevitable. But should it?

If Arsenal fail to qualify for the top six in the Premier League this season, having got themselves into a strong position with 15 matches to go, then Arteta does not deserve a new deal. It’s as straightforward as that. Even before the season began, anything less than top six was simply unacceptable.

While you’d like to believe there are some minimum requirements to earning a new deal, it does not make sense from a business perspective to entrust so much into someone who is not holding up his end of the bargain.

Does anyone foresee Arsenal finishing outside of the top six? Not at this stage, no. But the season is long with twists and turns aplenty. It does appear, however, that the Arsenal hierarchy’s position is unmovable: Mikel Arteta is the man for the job.