Walcott Under Pressure to Commit as Quintet Pen Arsenal Extensions

Jack Wilshere is among five Arsenal players to sign new long-term contracts, the club have confirmed.

Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey complete the quintet of players to commit their long-term future to the club.

The move comes after successive summers which saw Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie all depart in the final year of their contracts and manager Arsene Wenger is thrilled to have the British players signed up for the long-haul.

"We are delighted that these five young players have all signed new long-term contracts," Wenger said. "The plan is to build a team around a strong basis of young players, in order to get them to develop their talent at the Club.

"Jack is certainly the best known, the leader of this group - but the other four players are exceptional footballers, and we're very happy that we could conclude their new deals at the same time.

"Gibbs, Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey and Wilshere represent a core of the squad and it's an extension for a long period for all of them.

"I'm a strong believer in stability and I believe when you have a core of British players, it's always easier to keep them together and that's what we'll try to achieve going forward."

Wilshere, who came through The Gunners academy having joined from Luton Town in 2001, made his first-team debut in 2008 and returned earlier this season from 16 months out through injury.

After leaving Wimbledon in 2003, Gibbs took a similar route into the Arsenal first-team and is now first choice left back at the club ahead of Brazilian Andre Santos.

Oxlade-Chamberlain moved to the club in the summer of 2011 from Southampton, becoming the most expensive Championship player in the process, a move which has seen him flourish both in the Premier League and the Champions League and win his first England cap.

Following a year in the Charlton Athletic first team, Jenkinson moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2011 also, and was part of the defence which at the start of the current campaign kept three successive clean sheets for Arsenal, while his England debut came in the friendly against Sweden in November.

Ramsey moved from Cardiff City to Arsenal in 2008 after rejecting interest from Everton and Manchester United and has gone on to make over a century of appearances for the club despite spending 10 months out injured in 2010.

Gunners fans will hope the deals spark the renewal of both Bacary Sagna and Theo Walcott's contract, both of whom are in the final year of their respective contracts in north London.