Arsenal football club received a massive boost today as five of their brightest stars all signed contract extensions at the club.
Aaron Ramsey (21), Jack Wilshere (20), Kieran Gibbs (23), Carl Jenkinson (20) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (19) have all put pen to paper at the club and have committed their long-term future at Arsenal Football Club.
All five of the players together have made over 350 appearances for the Gunners and are key in Arsene Wenger’s plan of building around a British core.
Below is a statement from the official Arsenal website.
All five players who have signed new deals represent British countries. Midfielder Ramsey has made the most appearances for his country, playing 24 times and also captaining the Wales national team. The other four players who have put pen to paper on new deals, are all full England internationals. Defender Jenkinson is the most recent to win his first cap, making his full England debut in November in the friendly international in Sweden. Defender Gibbs was a regular under-21 international and has now won two England caps, with midfielder Wilshere representing the Three Lions on nine occasions.
Manager Arsène Wenger said: “We are delighted that these five young players have all signed new long-term contracts. The plan is to build a team around a strong basis of young players, in order to get them to develop their talent at the Club. Jack is certainly the best known, the leader of this group – but the other four players are exceptional footballers, and we’re very happy that we could conclude their new deals at the same time.
Wenger continued: “Gibbs, Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey and Wilshere represent a core of the squad and it’s an extension for a long period for all of them. I’m a strong believer in stability and I believe when you have a core of British players, it’s always easier to keep them together and that’s what we’ll try to achieve going forward.”
Everyone at Arsenal Football Club looks forward to the continued contribution of Kieran, Carl, Alex, Aaron and Jack in the forthcoming years.
Alex William Batt