Arteta agrees a new Arsenal deal, three days after Brighton put three past the champions
Arsenal’s manager has agreed improved terms with the Premier League champions, with his current contract due to expire next summer.
Sep 23, 2026
Mikel Arteta has agreed a new contract with Arsenal. BBC Sport and Sky Sports both reported it on 22 September, and while nothing has been signed and the club have not announced anything, the agreement is understood to be done. Sky’s reporting is that it has been in place for a couple of weeks, and the paperwork is expected during the current international break.
That would fit the pattern. Arteta’s existing deal was agreed during an international break too, on 12 September 2024, and it runs out at the end of this season.
What is in the deal
The length has not been confirmed. The BBC says it takes Arteta into at least his 10th year at the club, which appointed him in December 2019. He is reported to earn £10m a year plus £5m in bonuses at the moment, and the new terms are expected to include a sharp rise on that.
Arteta had kept the talks low-key. Asked about his contract before Arsenal’s trip to Brighton, he said: “I think we are all very much aligned; whenever the time is right, we’ll get that done. There is nothing to be concerned about.”
Why Arsenal wanted this done
The 44-year-old won the Premier League last season, Arsenal’s first league title since the Invincibles of 2003-04. It came after three straight second-place finishes, so this was a side that had been knocking on the door for a while.
He also took them to the Champions League final in Budapest in May, the club’s second after the 2006 defeat to Barcelona. They led through Kai Havertz inside six minutes, drew 1-1 and lost 4-3 on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain. His first trophy at the club was the FA Cup in 2020.
The Brighton result
The news comes three days after Arsenal’s worst afternoon of the new season. Brighton beat them 3-0 at the Amex on 19 September, with Pascal Gross scoring after 31 minutes, Charalampos Kostoulas adding a second on the stroke of half-time and Chema Andrés heading in from a corner just before the hour. It ended Arsenal’s perfect start to the title defence.
Arteta was blunt about it. “From our side there are certain basics that you need to accomplish in football, especially in the Premier League, that we were very far from,” he said, calling the game “a big lesson for us all to understand what it takes to win at this level”.
He has a while to fix it. This international break runs long, and Arsenal’s next league game is against Leeds on Saturday 10 October, kicking off at 12:30 BST (5pm IST).