There’s been a Friday feel around Arsenal today with two lots of positive news spilling from the club.

Gabriel Martinelli has signed a new four-and-a-half-year deal, and Mikel Arteta has been crowned once again as Premier League manager of the month.

Our three-time award winning manager was full of praise for Martinelli following his contract extension when speaking to the club media on the subject.

“He’s a player with enormous potential - he can develop physically. He can develop mentally. He can develop in terms of consistency. He can develop defensively. He can develop in the final third and in the spaces that he occupies. His numbers can be improved, and he’s so willing - that’s the best thing about Gabi.”

There’s couldn’t be higher praise for Arsenal’s number 11 on what is a fantastic day for both player and club.

The good news didn’t end there, as Arteta also revealed the clubs plans to continue to extend the contracts of other star names including Bukayo Saka and William Saliba.

“Part of the plan is to extend the contracts of our biggest talents at the club and commit them for the future. We are trying to do that.”

The thing that is most notable from all of the glorious things Arteta touched upon whilst discussing his young stars is his comment about his players enjoying their football at Arsenal.

“I see everybody is really happy, really willing to continue at the club. We have to meet everybody’s expectations and timing is key on that.”

Many times, over the last few years, there seems to be a ‘steppingstone’ feel to the potential of youngsters at the club.

Arsenal is a huge club, there’s no denying that, and our objective has always been to collect silverware, however the practicality of that over the years has been at times unreasonable.

With players like Martinelli, Saka and Saliba actively looking to extend their contracts at such pivotal moments in their careers, it portrays so much more than them putting pen to paper.

The project that Arteta is building at Arsenal is one of hunger and desire to genuinely win titles and challenge at the very top.

These current players need not to look elsewhere for quick success, the journey at Arsenal is an appealing one, and one with a rewarding ending for a team built on flourishing young talent and the longing to bring Arsenal back to the top.

Whether this team delivers trophies this season or not, there’s no denying the feel of Arsenal has been significantly altered.

The fans are louder, the team fight for each other, there’s no ‘bigger’ figure and there’s no expectation other than to love your club and your football and clearly that is enough to be top.