Arsenal close to committing midfielder to a long-term contract

Arsenal are reportedly making positive progress towards committing Aaron Ramsey to a new contract. The Wales international has just 12 months left on his existing deal at the Emirates Stadium but the hierarchy are supposedly confident of prolong his stay beyond the expiry of his contract.
According to The Telegraph, the Gunners are aiming to extend Ramsey’s contract by another three years at the least and the move won’t be influenced by the club’s pursuit of Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria. It is added that new boss Unai Emery has plans of playing Granit Xhaka and Ramsey with lesser defensive burden next term with Torreira, who is widely expected to join the club, due to be handed the holding midfield duties.
The north London giants have been quick to start their transfer business for the summer with the likes of Stephan Lichtsteiner and Bernd Leno officially announced to have joined the club and further transfer activity is expected in the coming weeks with Torreira and Sokratis Papastathopoulous from Borussia Dortmund tipped to head to the English capital.
Regardless of what happens, the true test may only be witnessed when the season kickstarts with Emery handed a tough Premier League schedule. Like in previous campaigns, the Gunners have not been lucky with the fixture list at the start of the season and the Capital outfit could be under pressure from the off with games against Manchester City and Chelsea to begin with.
Nonetheless, there appears a new sense of enthusiasm following the change of management and Emery may yet surprise many doubters by bringing the spark into the Gunners setup. The Spaniard has been highly successful in terms of securing trophies in each of the previous five seasons in club management and it will be interesting to see whether he can maintain this feat with the Gunners.