Mikel Arteta tells Andrea Berta that he has two big tasks to fulfil at Arsenal right now

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Andrea Berta is here at Arsenal and is ready to go.

The Gunners took their time to explore the market for Edu Gaspar’s successor, and after a lot of deliberation, the Italian became the chosen one.

Arsenal announced that Berta is the new sporting director on Sunday, and the former Atletico Madrid chief has started his work in North London.

The focus will be on the summer transfer window, and Arsenal’s links to Viktor Gyokeres show that Berta is already having a big impact.

But, the 53-year-old has a few other very important tasks as well.

Mikel Arteta leaves Bukayo Saka and William Saliba’s contract talks in Andrea Berta’s hands

Big signings this summer are extremely important, but keeping hold of Arsenal’s most important players has to be even more of a priority.

Both Bukayo Saka and William Saliba will enter the final two years of their contracts this summer, and that is not ideal at all.

If either of those players becomes available on the transfer market, every big club in the world will try to sign them as quickly as possible.

Arsenal haven’t done anything yet, and after Mikel Arteta was asked about Saka and Saliba’s deals in his press conference, the Gunners manager made it clear that it wasn’t his job anymore.

The Spaniard claimed that he has left those two tasks in Berta’s hands and wants the Italian to fulfil them in the very near future.

He said, as relayed on HaytersTV: “That’s very good, but I’m going to leave all those questions to Andrea [Berta] and make sure he has his place and his role and he can fulfil it.

“Hopefully, my influence can be in other aspects.”

The Arsenal players whose contracts need to be addressed ASAP

Saka and Saliba are the biggest names whose futures need to be secured by Arsenal, but they aren’t the only ones.

Berta will have his hands full in the coming days, but having done this same job brilliantly for over a decade at Atletico Madrid, he will know what to do.

Here are the list of players whose contract situations are a concern at the moment.

Arsenal cannot afford to lose any of Saka, Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, while letting Gabriel Martinelli go anytime soon would be a bad idea because his potential is still massive.

As for those who will enter the final years of their contracts this summer, Arsenal should consider letting them go for the right price.

It remains to be seen what Berta will decide in the coming weeks and months.