Arsenal are planning contract talks with Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck, according to ESPN.

Both Ramsey and Welbeck have contracts that expire in 2019, and Arsenal are keen to avoid another contract saga by starting extension talks early.

That’s according to ESPN, who claim that talks could get underway within the coming weeks.

Arsenal have mishandled player contracts recently. Most notably, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez were allowed to run their deals down to the final year, leaving Arsenal in a difficult position.

While Chamberlain was allowed to leave to Liverpool, Arsenal face the very real possibility of losing Ozil and Alexis for nothing in the summer.

It’s a situation they’re keen to avoid with the likes of Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck.

Ramsey has had injury problems since his last extension but is a highly valued player at the club. Welbeck has also had injury problems since signing in 2014, but has been in good form so far this season.

It’ll be the first test of Arsenal’s new legal expert, Huss Fahmy, and Ivan Gazidis following the departure of head negotiator Dick Law.

Arsenal have nine players out of contract in 2019 – Petr Cech, Mathieu Debuchy, Theo Walcott, Nacho Monreal, David Ospina, Chuba Akpom and Olivier Giroud in addition to Aaron and Welbz.

At the time of writing, there has been no mention of new deals for those seven players with many on the list likely to leave.