Santi Cazorla is set to become the third senior Arsenal player to agree a new contract.
The Spain midfielder has been in talks with club chiefs about signing an improved deal that will keep him at the Emirates Stadium until 2017 – his current contract ends in 2016
Sportsmail understands that Arsenal and Cazorla, who turned 29 in December, are close to finalising terms that will lift his salary to around £80,000-a-week.
Cazorla’s new deal is set to be announced as part of a package with senior team-mates Per Mertesacker and Tomas Rosicky.
Mertesacker, 29, has approved a new deal that will tie him to the club until the summer of 2017, while Rosicky, 33, has agreed a new one-year rolling contract.
Arsene Wenger revealed after Arsenal’s victory over Sunderland last weekend that Rosicky had agreed fresh terms and it is believed that Mertesacker and now Cazorla are close to following suit.
However, Arsenal have not yet secured the future of one of their longest-serving players, defender Bacary Sagna, who is out of contract in the summer and has offers on the table from a string of clubs,
including Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, Inter Milan and Galatasaray.
Cazorla has been a virtual ever-present in Wenger’s team since joining from Malaga in the summer of 2012 – making 81 appearances and scoring 18 goals. He has played principally on the flanks following the £42.5million club-record signing of Mesut Ozil last August but his technique, touch and combination play is considered by Wenger to be crucial to his side’s style of play.
Gunners chiefs, led by contract negotiator Dicky Law, have been busy over the last year securing the futures of the club’s most influential players.
British sextet Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson all signed new deals just over 12 months ago, while goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny penned an improved contract earlier in the season.
Written by Steve Milne
Follow me on twitter @stevenmilnelive
