Arsene Wenger silent on new Arsenal deals for Francis Coquelin and Olivier Giroud but hopes to extend Kieran Gibbs stay

1/5
James Benge16 December 2016

Arsene Wenger declined to comment on reports that Arsenal were set to announce new contracts for Francis Coquelin and Olivier Giroud but said he hoped Kieran Gibbs would extend his contract.

It was reported by French media earlier in the week that both Coquelin and Giroud had put pen to paper on new deals, the latter among several Arsenal players whose contract is due to expire in the summer of 2018.

However Wenger, who has made clear his reluctance to discuss Arsenal's contract negotiations with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez's future dominating the agenda, suggested the club were in no position to announce the deals.

He did however say that he wants Gibbs, another whose contract expires in 18 months, to extend his 12 year stay at Arsenal though the Gunners have yet to open formal discussions over the deal.

In Pictures | Everton vs Arsenal | 13/12/2016

1/28

"As soon as we have some news we will inform you," Wenger said of Coquelin and Giroud's new deals. "We won't make a case of every contract negotiation. Personally I think Gibbs should stay here."

The 30-year-old Giroud is expected to agree a one year extension whilst Coquelin, who signed his last contract after breaking into the Arsenal side in 2015, will likely extend to 2021.

Coquelin has remained a crucial member of Wenger’s side since despite the £34million signing of Granit Xhaka in the summer. The 25-year-old French midfielder has started 12 of Arsenal’s 16 league games this season and has rarely been missing for the toughest tests throughout the year.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in