Cape Town - Arsène Wenger has confirmed that Francis Coquelin and Chuba Akpom have signed new long-term contracts with the club.
France under-21 international Coquelin has won praise for his performances since returning to Arsenal in December from a loan spell at Charlton Athletic.
The 23-year-old, who joined the Gunners from French side Laval in 2008, has featured 54 times in all competitions and was a key member of the 2009 FA Youth Cup-winning side.
Akpom joined the Arsenal academy in 2002 and made his first-team debut in the 3-1 Premier League victory at Sunderland in September 2013.
He has featured five times for the Gunners this season, impressing in back-to-back appearances against Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa, and has nine goals in 10 games for the under-21s.
“I am very happy because for me the target during this transfer window was on two fronts,” Wenger told arsenal.com.
“The first was to get a defender in and we did that.
“The second was also to extend the contracts of Coquelin and Akpom. That's what I did as well so we are very happy with what we did.”