Mikel Arteta is ‘desperate‘ to stay at Arsenal and will sign any contract they give him according to the Daily Star.

The Arsenal captain, who has missed the majority of this season through injury and who recently suffered a setback is out of contract in the summer but there are no fears that he will look to leave the club.

Speaking to the media, Arsene Wenger confirmed that Arteta’s contract would be sorted in the summer and while it’s not clear where the information came regarding Arteta’s ‘desperation‘ and willingness to sign whatever contract he’s given, the boss said that it would take around ‘five minutes’ to sort out the details and get the deal done.

Arteta himself did say “My only aim is to get back fit and preform for the team.

“As long as I do that, I’m sure that I will continue at this club, given the relationship I have with the club, with the respect I have from everybody here, and because I’m really happy.”

Coming under criticism from some fans of the club who seem to be under the illusion that Arteta’s legs ‘have gone’ there is no doubting that he has been a massive miss for the side this season, especially in matches where Arsenal needed to control the game.

Still only 33, he has much more to offer the club and here at Cannon Towers we’re delighted that he won’t become yet another captain to leave one year after being handed the armband.

Perhaps the state of the squad has something to do with him really wanting to stick around, as he told Arsenal.com “We are very determined now and we believe that we can beat any team.

“We have a little of the arrogance that you need before the game, where you are sure if you do the right things you will win the game.

“We’ve got the best squad that we’ve had for years – since I’ve been here, for sure the best squad in numbers and quality.

“We’re in a really good position now compared to where we were in November.

“The experience last year was a bit stressful because we were the big dogs and we had to win it.

“In the semi-final and the final things went against us at the start and we had to get back into the game to win from a losing position.

“That was a big experience and this week we have prepared really well, we know a lot about Reading’s threats and where we can hurt them, and I think everybody’s going to be very aware because we don’t want to go through that again.

“If we can score early, it will be much better.”