Arsenal want new deals for Ramsey and Welbeck, says Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed he will push forward contract talks with Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck to avoid encountering more contractual problems in the future.

The Gunners currently race the prospect of losing Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez for nothing at the end of the current campaign after both players entered the final 12 months of their existing deals during the summer.

Neither look set to sign renewals and Wenger wants to avoid encountering the same problem with other players, which has prompted his desire to sort the long-term futures of Ramsey and Welbeck.

“It is something we want to address,” The Guardian quote Wenger as saying when quizzed about Welbeck and Ramsey’s contracts. “Both of them are in a good moment for us. But with the level of transfers and the amounts that players expect on their contracts, you will have more and more players going into the final year of their contracts. You will be in a position where you either extend for money you cannot afford or you go into the final year of their contract.

“This season, there were 107 players in the Premier League who go into the final year of their contract and you will see that more. The clubs want too much money for normal players.”

Welbeck, who has entered the final two years of his current deal, made a bright start to the season before suffering a groin injury earlier this month that has ruled him out until after the next international break. In fact, the 26-year-old has already scored more league goals this season (3) than he managed in the whole of the last campaign (2).

Ramsey, meanwhile, whose current deal also expires in 2019, has finally established himself as a regular in central midfield after spending the start of his Arsenal career playing on the right flank. In just five league appearances, the Wales international has already matched his goal return for the whole of last season (1).