Arsenal are claimed to have agreed a new deal with William Saliba this summer, dispelling some fears that he could leave the club during the current window.
The defender enjoyed a hugely impressive 12 months in France, where he helped Marseille to earn a second-placed finish in league whilst picking up the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award also.
While he was believed to be keen to return to the same club for another spell, he is now set to stay at the Emirates and battle with Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes for a first-team role, and there are now reports to claim that we have agreed terms with the youngster over a new deal also.
It is my understanding that William Saliba has already agreed a new deal to extend his #AFC contract after positive talks before the US tour. Arsenal pleased with his development and see him as an important part of the future. No word on when an official announcement is expected. pic.twitter.com/EDVSxjTkSg
— Freddie Paxton (@Freddie_Paxton) July 22, 2022
There was just two years left remaining on the five-year deal he signed when joining from St Etienne in 2019, so it would be ideal if we have already moved to extend his terms beyond that time, as our control over his future could have come under pressure.
Saliba seems a huge talent, and one all of us fans have been excited and eager to see in action in our famous red and white for some time. It remains to be seen how quickly he will settle into his new side, with him yet to make his competitive debut for our side despite joining three years ago.
He has already made an impact in pre-season however, and there is plenty of reasons to be positive about the impact he can have on our new campaign, and Ben White could well come under threat sooner than expected.
Does anyone believe that Ben White could block Saliba’s efforts to break into the starting line-up?
Patrick
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If true, this shows that Saliba and Arteta were as one in their thinking for the future.
Both seemed relaxed during his time away on loan and it seems Marseille were stirring things up, hopefully (I assume) to get him on a permanent deal.
As the saying goes”time is a great healer”.
I’m not sure what you mean.
Siamois, as your post appears like Saliba suffered, when in all probability he knew the reasoning behind it all.
I may well be unable to see the whole truth but I feel that Saliba always knew that his future showed ambition
Sue, it may have turned into a marriage of convenience but even that, time will tell. Saliba and Artetas opportunities have changed but lets actually get him signed to see if its correct. Saliba wanted to play under Sampoali and Arteta wanted a different CB but it has turned out neither can have what they wanted, what they really really wanted. It may turn out well, we will see.
Irrational in my thinking at times, I do believe – or think – that bridges can be built and the right result can be forged. We all can wipe our brows at times when something works out for the best
Wait how do u know all this ?
Good question mate.
I meant that in case there had been some tensions, disagreement.. (or whatever you want to call it) between the 2 of them,it seems that with the benefits of time and hindsight, it’s all been resolved.
Me too
👍
Wonderful post Ken, echoing my thoughts too during the past one year. Mikel had a blue print for the development of the lad and the lad did exactly that. Or else there would have been tremendous pressure on him had he do a mistake or two over here. The same happened to Tavares, a very fine young talent but succumbed to the pressure and demands at the Emirates/EPL. Mikel handled the Saliba issue very well and this will come as a shocker and a rap on the knuckles of the anti Arteta or Anti Arsenal brigade I would prefer to label them
LC Well said and so sadly true about the anti MA brigade who just don’t and in some cases won’t, GET IT. Sigh!
It is the WON’T,rather than the DON’T brigade, who make me suspicious as to whether or not they are really Gooners at all.
I find it hard to accept that any fan who simply refuses to see, ever, in the face of all the mounting evidence , that MA is taking our club to a better place than these last few dismal years, since some years even prior to when AW ahem”resigned”(eh Ken?), are ACTUALLY Gooners at all!!
@JF it has been a win-win situation, Saliba has played on a decent level every week, and we have got a CB that can contribute from day one.
I have been positive about it all the time. We should do the same with other young players that needs time to become the best version of themselves. They need to play and it’s much better for their development to go on loan than be sitting on a bench.
LC with all due respect, you are telling it as it isnt. People dont like the truth but there has and probably still is a big difference of opinion between the two. If it turns out ok, it is definitely not by design.
Perhaps you have been considering the situation wrong. Do you believe it would have been better for Saliba to play for the U23 team or sit on our bench? It has been a win-win situation for both parties, and we have got a better player.
⅞s
Great news , I really love this guy
After so many years toiling in the wilderness, the prodigal son has returned. Welcome home, William Saliba, future leader and captain of Arsenal FC. Time so start ordering Saliba shirts. Guendouzi next?
guendouzi???? Lol..where have you been?
Great news if true.
I think it has more to do with the guy who nurtured him into the player he has become( Sampaoli) quit Marseille, because they didn’t fight hard enough to sign Saliba permanently…IJS
Thank the heavens as it would’ve been the worst transfer since Clive Allen.
Great news if true 👍
If true👍
excited for william, but he still has to earn his minutes like everyone else. I think he is more talented and athletic than ben, but he has to beat him out on the training pitch.
No way!!! Ben White is not good enough. I’ve always believed Arsenal wasted money buying White. He’s over rated by the press.
If this report is true, its Massive.
The gaffer would have given a perfect opportunity to redeem his self, a keep saying this is probably the biggest mistake the gaffer ever made in his coaching career.
Playing Mustafi ahead of this lad showed and proved a terrible error on the gaffer part, but if reports are to believe he can claim credit and maybe even calls it tough love, as his development accelerates.
We must treat it as a new signing . Saka next.
So in our 1st team, compare to last season , we have added Jesus , Zinchenko and Saliba . They can all be our 1st 11. That already a good window. And if we can add a Telamns and a winger I would be really excited about next season
Ben keep William out? I think it’s the opposite given a fair competition.
I think Saliba keeps been out.
I’ve said before I think Saliba and Gabriel is the best pairing, and White as CDM makes us strong at the back.
Let’s see how things play out and how our 3 CB’s do competing for those 2 spots.
I sometimes get amused how some people interpret issues in terms of personality clashes. Why would Arteta have had an issue with Saliba whom he just met at Arsenal? The whole assumption of building bridges suggests there were estranged relations which I don’t believe was the case. This was just a question of principle where Arteta felt that Saliba needed more game time elsewhere before being integrated into the Arsenal team. Any other sensible coach would have done likewise. This has indeed turned out to be the case. Both parties have benefited from from this decision. Some foresighted people would call this prudence and credit goes to Arteta. So instead of bringing up misplaced conspiracy theories we should applaud Arteta’s wise decision which is likely to be of great benefit to Arsenal.
@David Rusa
Why would Arteta have had an issue with Saliba whom he just met at Arsenal? Same reason he had issues with Torreira, Pepé, Leno and Guendouzi.. because they were Emery signings and he was convinced they were the group infected with the loser mentality he was complaining about. Tierney is the only Emery player who survived the culling and it’s probably because Arteta really tried but couldn’t find half an excuse to drop him out of the line-up.
@quantic dream,to cut the long story short.arteta hates all the players he inherited just for no concrete reason???
Utter nonsense.Not having seen the guy play over 90 mins in a competitive match, I am not in a position to comment on his ability, but rarely have I heard so much hype dished out by fans concerning a young man who has yet to kick a ball in the cauldron of the EPL.I sincerely hope Saliba is the real deal, and that euphoria surrounding the young man is not misplaced by fans who choose to create conspiracy theories when they do not exist.Not one subscriber to JA has insider knowledge to substantiate their speculations, but will they back Saliba and give him time of he does not not the ground running?
👍Grandad
The case of Guendozi was just one of indiscipline while the others had issues of poor performances. Is it a crime to desire better standards by a coach? Does that tantamount to personality clashes? If Unai Emery paid over the odds for poor performers must Arteta retain them so as to please conspiracy theorists?
That would great David, if it wasn’t for the fact Gouendouzi and others have gone on to show that they are better players and people with other teams. Gouendouzi was a massive failure of management, OURS. He is playing CL football, in the national team and we are not.
People mature by learning from their mistakes and
Guendouzi made some very big mistakes, showing a flawed personality at Arsenal.
As a result he was handed a life lesson. If he’s doing better elsewhere as a human being then good luck to him, but it only shows that he has learned from his mistakes, not that he didn’t make any.
The final straw was when he taunted Brighton players over their wages – that’s the action of a child. He got what he deserved, the club took action because they were forced to do so and they acted in a sensible fashion – there’s no “mismanagement”, the guy is what he is personality-wise – you can only work with what arrives on your doorstep, you can’t start from scratch.
Spot on IDK.
@IDK nice saying.
All of them have got their chances, and all of them are responsible for their own situations and the outcome.
David, How cathartic to read such obvious wisdom,though a wisdom sadly rare on this site, where such virulent anti MA brigaders post their stupid nonsense daily.
We must keep our fingers cross that this reports is true, for many reasons
Of course it is gunsmoke along with saka’s deal.
When Saka sign peas will grow in my heart
Yet another article assuming that there will only be 2 CBs playing at a time (White doesn’t have to “block” anyone if there are 3 CBs in the line-up).
Interesting how many other assumptions there are around Saliba being unhappy over his “treatment”. As I’ve pointed out before there has been only one decision point in his 3 years on contract and he is likely to have been a part of that decision rather than a victim of it.
Year 1 – contractual loan-back to St Etienne.
Year 2 – decision to loan him out. COVID meant no football happened.
Year 3 – the loan actually took place.
Only one loan decision, but there were lots of the usual gutter press clickbaiting various unsourced stories about him, lots said about Guendouzi’s influence (which may have been true, but is not necessarily decisive or even particularly influential – Saliba will be aware of Guendouzi’s reasons to be anti-Arsenal) but…
There’s a reason why there’s an old expression “Don’t believe everything you read in the papers” – but far too many people still do it.
Evidence from pre-season suggests that there is no problem between MA and William, perhaps it’s time some people started believing the evidence in front of their eyes rather than the assertions of people with vested interests in spreading rumours (two-bit “journalists” with nothing concrete worth reporting that day).
I never saw a personality clash as being an issue – my concern was the timing. Its fair enough if arteta might wasn’t overly impressed by a young player he didn’t know, and wanted him to go on loan to develop himself before risking him in the first team. The problem is we paid a lot of money for the player, and he started this summer with 2 years left on his contract – and it wouldn’t be the first time a talented player got frustrated with lack of opportunities and ran his contract down or forced a move – this is what happened with flamini (even after he broke into the first team in his final year), and I could see similarities to what happened with gnabry.
If saliba had wanted to, he could simply have waited until next summer and the offers would start coming in. This might have worked out well for him, or it might have led to a bad move, but it would have put us in another difficult position where we’d either have to sell yet another player for much less than we paid or let him go for free a year later.
If we’ve managed to get him to sign on, we’ve done very well but maybe been fortunate saliba isn’t the arrogant / overly-sensitive / greedy / vindictive type. As a player, I think he’ll turn out very well (but he still might need a season to get used to this league).