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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: Why we're yet to offer key player new deal
ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed the club are still yet to offer club captain Per Mertesacker a new contract.
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Mertesacker is currently sidelined until the new year with a knee injury sustained in July.
Despite that, the World Cup winner was appointed Gunners skipper following the summer departure of Mikel Arteta, who took up a coaching role at Manchester City.
However, Wenger has confirmed the club are yet to offer the German defender a new deal - and will wait until he's fit again to make a decision.
"At the moment we have not dealt yet with that situation," he told TalkSport.
"We are not especially [waiting for him to be fit], but of course he has to come back.
"We will see together at some stage when he will be back in full training."
Per Mertesacker is yet to be offered a new contract by Arsenal
Mertesacker's route back into Wenger's starting line-up has been made difficult by the summer arrival of Shkodran Mustafi.
The defender signed from Valencia for £35million late in the summer transfer window and has started recent matches against Southampton and Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal also have Laurent Koscielny and Rob Holding at their disposal., while Gabriel is still a few weeks of recovering from injury himself.
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