Mikel Arteta insists Alexandre Lacazette’s situation will be addressed in the summer, even though he’s happy with the striker right now.

Lacazette has a contract in North London until 2022, so Arsenal really only have this summer to either extend or cash in. After that, it’s going to be more attractive to the player to run his deal down and leave for free than exit in January.

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Liverpool, Mikel Arteta told the press he’s happy with how Alexandre Lacazette has been performing over the last few months, but they’re not rushing into any contract negotiations with the striker just yet.

“I think he’s been really good,” Arteta admitted. “I think he’s been in really good form for months now. I think he’s sustaining that level.

“He’s scoring goals and he’s providing the team with something different as well. His work rate has been phenomenal and it’s what we want.

“The situation with Laca will get addressed in the summer. I will speak to him and just propose a future that we want and that’s it. Now I just want players focused and only focused on performing and getting the best out of them for the team.”

To be fair, Arteta and Arsenal did a good job of sorting contracts last summer. Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all signed extensions between July and September, so waiting until summer doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

The main benefit of waiting is that it allows Arsenal to assess the situation properly.

If they’ve qualified for Europe and have a good offer to sell Lacazette, perhaps they’ll look to do so and reinvest in a top long-term replacement. If they haven’t qualified and the market is still struggling, maybe they’ll need to extend.

If Lacazette scores in every game between now and May and wins Arsenal the Europa League, perhaps they’ll want to keep him and invest the extra funds elsewhere. Everything is still on the table for the time being.