Arsenal are apparently set to open talks with Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey over new contracts.

Welbeck and Rambo have under two years left on their existing deals and the Guardian report that Arsenal are set to open talks in order to tie them down for longer following Arsene Wenger’s pre-West Brom comments.

“It is something we want to address,” Wenger said. “Both of them are in a good moment for us. But with the level of transfers and the amounts that players expect on their contracts, you will have more and more players going into the final year of their contracts. You will be in a position where you either extend for money you cannot afford or you go into the final year of their contract.

“This season, there were 107 players in the Premier League who got into the final year of their contract and you will see that more. The clubs want too much money for normal players.

“They say that if one player is worth £200m [like Neymar], then this player is worth £50m. But everybody knows for that player £50m is too much and they cannot afford it. So what happens? The club cannot sell and doesn’t extend the contract, so more and more players are going into the final year of their contract.”

The duo are just two of nine Gunners whose contracts expire in 2019. The other seven are Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Nacho Monreal, Petr Cech, David Ospina, Mathieu Debuchy and Chuba Akpom.

While it’s entirely possible that a few of these players will simply be released since their wages are too high to actually sell them (I’m lookin’ at you, Debuchy), Arsenal could try and flog a few next summer or even January. If you look at the list, except for the aforementioned Welbz and Rambo, they’re either struggling for game time or 30+.

Cech, Monreal, Giroud and Debuchy have a combined age of 128, while Walcott and Ospina have just six appearances across all competitions between the two of them this term.

Chuba Akpom meanwhile has failed to actually break into the first team properly despite making his debut against Sunderland in September 2013 when Giroud went off injured.

Welbeck, however, has made five Premier League starts this season and scored three goals. The 26-year-old is currently out until mid-October with a groin injury but Arsene Wenger rates him highly.

Rambo is… well he’s Aaron Ramsey. The midfielder is one of the most exciting players we currently have at Arsenal and scored the winner in the FA Cup final TWICE.

We need to keep him at all costs.