Arteta negotiates new £12 million contract

Mikel Arteta is due to start negotiating a new contract and he is holding all the ace cards.

The Arsenal maestro has one year left on his current deal and the 42-year-old is set to become Arsenal’s highest paid manager in their history.

Arsenal are still in contention to buy RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko and despite denials, officials are putting pressure on the German Bundesliga club.

Ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger earned around £8 million per season and Arteta’s current deal is about the same. His new salary will rise to around £12 million.

• MSF raises concern over malnutrition rise in 7 northern states
• Super Eagles’ 2026 World Cup dreams suffer major setback

I can confirm that Aaron Ramsdale, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson could be on their way out of the club if the right offers come in. Bayern Munich are interested in Oleksandr Zinchenko and Thomas Partey has only one year left on his contract. Arsenal are taking a long hard look at Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz.

De Bruyne considers huge financial offer from Saudi

Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne said he might leave because of the “incredible money” being offered by Saudi Arabia. After joining City in 2015 Kevin has become one of the club’s all-time greats but he is aware that at the age of 33 he must consider all options. He said, “I still have one year left on my contract so I have to think about what would happen. My eldest is now eight years old and he knows nothing about England. He also asks how long I will play for City.”

 De Bruyne earns £400k a week and is the Premier League’s highest paid player. He concluded, “At my age you have to be open to everything. You’re talking about incredible amounts of money in what may be the end of my career. Sometimes you have to think about that. If I play there for two years, I will be able to earn an incredible amount of money. Before that I had to play football for 15 years and I might not even have reached that amount of money yet.”

Liverpool’s Kelleher wants to be a No 1

When you are in the first team squad and desperate to play regularly but your competition is considered by many to be the best in the world how do you become No1? That is Liverpool goalkeeper Caolmhin Kelleher’s big problem.

Kelleher got his chance when Alisson Becker was injured and out of action for a lengthy period. He performed admirably and won a lot of admirers. Allison’s return however saw Kelleher back on the sub’s bench watching and not playing.

Liverpool rejected offers from Nottingham Forest last summer and again in January for their No2 stopper. I have learned he will sit down in a few weeks and discuss his future with new coach Arne Slot and the Liverpool management. He will make it clear he wants to be No.1.

The Republic of Ireland goalkeeper said, “I got a taste for it and I want to do it all the time. My main ambition is to be considered as No.1 and it would be great if that happened at Liverpool. But I am not silly and I know that Ali has been the best goalkeeper in the world for years. Whether it’s here at Liverpool or somewhere else, I do feel the next step for me is to be a No.1. I’ve loved being at Liverpool and hopefully there is more to come.”

Chelsea finds successor to Thiago Silva

Chelsea are confident of signing Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo on a free transfer.

The 26-year-old’s contract expires in three weeks and he has received plenty of interest from other leading clubs. Newcastle are still in the hunt for his signature but Tosin underwent a medical at Chelsea on Wednesday.

Chelsea want to replace central defender Thiago Silva who has left Stamford Bridge and returned to his former club Fluminense.

Blues defender 24-year-old Trevoh Chalobah is up for sale and will be sold if the right offer comes in because he is an academy player and therefore represents pure profit for the club which helps them to keep within the Profitability and Sustainability rules.

Four of Ipswich Town’s big players return to parent clubs

Ipswich Town have some serious recruiting to do following their promotion to the Premier League. Four of their big stars last season have departed and returned to their parent clubs.

Omari Hutchinson, voted Town’s Player of the Season, Jeremy Sarmiento, Kieffer Moore and Brandon Williams all played a big part in last season’s success but have now left.

Kayden Jackson and Dominic Ball have not been retained upon the ending of their contracts.

Defender Janoi Donacien, a regular in the starting line-up until suffering injury, is continuing his rehabilitation despite being out of contract. He hopes to be fit for the new season and will play a part in coach Kieran McKenna’s plans going forward.

Chelsea coach Maresca plays Man City and Real Madrid

Chelsea finally got their wish and appointed Leicester’s Enzo Maresca on a five year contract which will prove to be expensive if the Italian fails to excite the management based on their lack of patience with Mauricio Pochettino. The 44-year-old will have only a couple of weeks to work with some of his players at Chelsea’s Cobham training headquarters before they jet off for a pre-season tour to face Hollywood celebrity backed Wrexham A.F.C who have come to prominence because of their new shareholders Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney but in reality are a League One club who do not offer much competition to the Chelsea superstars. The Blues will also play Celtic, Club America, Manchester City and Real Madrid who will field their new PSG signing Kylian Mbappe.

Maresca plays very entertaining attacking football and treats matches rather like a game of chess with every player having to be aware of exactly where they are on the pitch and knowing where their teammates are and thinking a move ahead which he calls positional awareness.

Fernandes wants bigger pay packet

Bruno Fernandes wants a new contract from Manchester United that would put him on a par with top earners Marcus Rashford, Casimero and Jadon Sancho. United’s 27% shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe thinks Fernandes is United’s best player but if a large offer came in for his services it would be considered so that further investment could be made in strengthening the team without breaking the financial rules which dominate football these days. Fernandes’s agent Miguel Pinho has talked with Bayern Munich and Barcelona but I doubt this will lead to an offer. Fernandes currently earns £220k a week and his contract runs until 2026 with a further one year option. Rashford earns £365k a week which is more than Casemiro at £260k and Sancho earns £300k a week.