Is the Arsenal captain curse about to strike again?

There are a number of stories floating around this suggesting that Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta will leave Arsenal at the end of the season and return to Spain to join his former manager David Moyes at Real Sociedad.

Speaking about Arteta’s contract and his fitness on Friday, Arsene Wenger had this to say:

“He is back in full training today, I think he will be back in three weeks.

“There is no movement on his contract, not yet no.

“I would like him to stay on. He has huge experience and is very important to the squad”

Whilst I’m sure that we would all like to see Arteta stay on at Arsenal, it’s highly likely that the sticking point around a new contract is the Arsenal policy for over-30 year old players, and with that in mind for Arteta it very much becomes a case of where he can get the most security for the final few years of his career.

That’s something I’m sure that we can all understand.

Arteta has a good history with David Moyes, with the Scotsman having signed him for Everton, and after being born in San Sebastian, signing for Real Sociedad would represent a chance for Arteta to return to his Basque roots.

We could well see a breakthrough in the deal with Arteta being persuaded to stay on for another year, but if Moyes has put together a proposal for Arteta it would certainly be something that he would consider.

Losing Arteta would put Arsenal in an interesting situation.

The emergence of Coquelin has certainly made life easier, but with Mathieu Flamini and forgotten man Abou Diaby likely to leave, Arsenal will be light in midfield – perhaps adding further weight to talk of Morgan Schneiderlin joining the club.

If Arteta were to stay, he’d likely find himself playing a lot less (even if fit), and that will be something that plays a major part in his decision.