William Saliba will not be extending his current loan deal with Saint Etienne beyond the end of the previous agreement.
The defender has been on loan at the French side this season and helped them to reach the final of the French Cup.
The final is set to be played later this month and the Ligue 1 side wanted him to remain with them for the finale.
Both teams have been in talks over the extension and it seemed as if there would be a positive outcome from those talks.
But Arsenal has just released a statement which they claim that they tried their best to reach a favourable agreement with the French side which would see them keep the defender for the finals, but both teams could not agree.
The club said they wanted to protect their interests and welfare of the player, and that they wanted the French side to follow a clear training plan in collaboration with them, but they couldn’t get Saint Etienne to agree to it.
The statement reads: “Throughout our discussions with St Etienne, our aim has been to protect the welfare of William Saliba as well as the interests of Arsenal Football Club, while honouring the terms of the loan.
“Despite the loan ending on June 30, we were willing to find a way for William to play in the [French] cup final on July 24, despite having no contractual obligation to do so.
“As William is returning from injury, we asked that St Etienne follow a clear training plan with William in close collaboration with us, to ensure he is fully fit for the start of next season.
“To our surprise we were unable to reach agreement to this plan which was proposed by our medical experts, and we are simply not prepared to risk the welfare of an Arsenal player.
“While it was not our primary concern, and ultimately not relevant as our training plan was not accepted, we also expected not to be financially disadvantaged by extending the loan. This was also not acceptable to St Etienne.
“We know this is a disappointment for William but he understands we are working to protect his long-term interests and those of Arsenal.”
Am gutted for him, he lost a chance to be in a cup final and winning a medal obviously
Have I got this right ? StE wanted Saliba for very nearly an extra month so he could be able to play in their Cup Final. For that,they wanted US to pay £2m and also not collaborate with us over his regime to prepare him for the start of next season with us ! I understand it had something to do with a clause in the transfer contract that Arsenal would pay £2m if Saliba played more than 16 games. The Final would have been 17th,BUT,the contract ended 30th June.
I would’ve thought THEY should’ve paid US £2m and agree to fitness collaboration !!
Me too Geoff!
If that is true, then bring him over now. Obligations were fulfilled, yet they wanted to be paid for risking our player? That’s some nerve they’re showing and Arsenal owe them nothing.
Seems an insult if story is true, tell them loan is contractually completed and it’s time we receive our player.
It’s baffling. And then they are mad at us???? Why would we pay to let them use OUR player after the contract is up? It was a kindness that we were letting him play. To add a fee onto it is INSULTING.
Unbelievable isn’t it Geoff
Not really,when you consider how they played hardball insisting they kept him for another year !
However,they’ve now got their payback !!
Hard to know what is true and what is fake news but if accurate St Etienne are coming across as a pretty naive outfit. Shame for Saliba though but knowing our luck he probably would have torn his ACL had he played. Looking forward to seeing what he can do next season.