Arsenal hopeful of signing new contract with Bukayo Saka

Premier League club Arsenal are hopeful of signing a new contract with forward Bukayo Saka this week.

The Gunners are set to tie down the 18-year-old to a new deal following positive talks between Mikel Arteta and the player's family and agents, Goal.com reported.

Negotiations with the teenager winger, whose current deal is due to expire in 2021, have been ongoing for months and have moved forward dramatically in the last few weeks.The new deal with Saka will be a massive boost to head coach Mikel Arteta, who has been desperate to keep him at the club amid interest from several of Europe's top sides.

"I am very positive that everything is going to be done with Bukayo very shortly. The communications between the club, agents and the family has been going on for months and are very fluent. The player and family knows how much trust I have in him. He is just showing that every week and his consistency level is getting better and better," Arteta had said of Saka last month.

"He has a manager that has total belief in him, he has a club that really supports him and he has team-mates who adore him for who he is. He's such a nice boy, he's very intelligent and he's so willing to learn. He's eager to be the best, he tries to be the best every day, and you can put him in different positions and he picks it up really quickly," he added.

Saka joined Arsenal at the age of seven and after a rapid ascent through the youth ranks, he was handed his senior debut in November 2018 by Unai Emery in the Europa League.

He made four senior appearances in 2018-19 but has been a near ever-present in the current campaign, having made 33 appearances so far - scoring three goals and setting up 11.

Arsenal will take on Norwich City in the Premier League clash later in the day.

( With inputs from ANI )