While the hype and speculation (and future success of the Gunners) seems to revolve around Arsene Wenger resigning Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez as we wrote a few days back, the Gunners also need to keep all the vital players in their squad happy, content and safely tied into long-term contracts with the Emirates Stadium side.

Arsene Wenger was delighted (and likely relieved) to announce on Thursday that the club had come to agreements with the French triumvirate of dominant centre-back Laurent Koscielny, superstar centre-forward Olivier Giroud and tough-tackling midfielder Francis Coquelin. All 3 players still had 18 months left on their current deals so there was no real urgency but the team-mates had all been negotiating over the early months of the season and the signings are a nice boost for the club as they embark on the 2nd half of the campaign. The signings could also prove to be influential in getting “main men” Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to put pen to paper on new deals with the North Londeners. As we know if Wenger can secure Ozil and Sanchez it will put Arsenal in a great position to attack the summer transfer window looking to bring in that final one or two players which could/should put the Gunners over the edge and allow them to finally claim that elusive major silverware the entire club has been craving since 2003-4 back in the invincible era.

Arsenal must secure Sanchez and Ozil in addition to the already impressive re-signings of top centre-back Koscielny, who could start in any Premier League side; as could Olivier Giroud walk into any Premier League side plus young Coquelin has improved in leaps and bounds over the past couple of seasons also making him one of the best defensive midfielders in the League. Arsenal are now keeping their best players and Ozil has stated that him resigning with Arsenal is not a money matter, speaking to the Guardian he said:

“The club knows that I am here most of all because of Arsène Wenger. He is the one who signed me and he is the one whose trust I have. The club also knows that I want to be clear what the manager is going to [in the future].”

Arsene’s own deal is up for renewal this summer. The issue regarding Sanchez seems a little more difficult as he has said less on the record but we know that Chelsea have let a story leak that they would offer him stupid money of well-over £350,000 a week to join them plus there are also reported offers of more from Chinese Super Clubs so it remains to be seen if the big money turns his head or if the quality of football, living and playing football in one of the finest global cities and leaving behind the best calibre football is something he can do at the age of 28 years old.

Speaking at a club Presser to announce the great news for the club, a clearly over-the-moon Arsenal manager revealed the great news about the freshly extended players were all signed up and remained upbeat not only about the remainder of this season but also the years to come. As reported by Metro Arsene Wenger said: ‘We are very pleased that three important members of our team have committed to us for the long term.

‘Francis has made tremendous technical strides over the past few years because he’s so focused every day.

‘Olivier has big experience in the game now and has become a more and more complete player since joining us. Laurent is of course a key part of our squad and I believe one of the best defenders in the world today. So overall, this is great news for us.’

So Arsenal look to be learning from past mistakes and getting their main men re-signed and feeling special as soon as they can – Gooners will be hoping Ozil and Sanchez are feeling the same way too as Arsenal may be on the cusp of something special with their current squad.