There seems to be a pattern developing with Arsenal targets. It goes like this, they identify a player, they make a bid, it gets rejected, they prevaricate and risk losing the player.
And that is what is starting to happen with William Saliba, according to reports coming out of Italy.
The Italian media is claiming that Roma is keen on the 18-year-old and that the player would happily move to Serie A and that talks first started three months ago.
Arsenal has long targeted the strapping defender but have failed to come to an agreement with his club St Etienne mainly because the Ligue 1 side wants to loan the player for one more season, something Arsenal is not keen on.
That said, the same report does say that Unai Emery is getting close to an agreement for the young Frenchman and that is may be a case of too little too late for the Italian giants.
But the longer that Arsenal takes to conclude this deal the bigger a chance that another club will move in for the teenager.
St Etienne are in no hurry but you have to think that even they have a limit to their patience and they are under no obligation to sell to Arsenal and if a club like Roma does come in and meets their valuation and agrees the one year loan back then there is every likelihood that we will miss out.