French side Marseille are set to open talks with Arsenal over a permanent deal to keep William Saliba beyond his current loan spell.
The defender joined the Gunners from St Etienne in the summer in 2019 but is yet to make his competitive debut for the senior side, and is currently on his third loan away from the club.
Despite our side having failed to give Saliba his chance in north London, he is still believed to be held in high regard, and the belief is that he still remains in the club’s long-term plans. That resolve could well be tested however with Marseille claimed to be ready to discuss a deal to sign him permanently.
🔥Olympique de Marseille want to keep William Saliba in the team permanently.
📞Talks with Arsenal will begin soon.#AFC #Gooners | #OM #MercatOM |
🔻VOLE🔻
🔜 https://t.co/FGB5A8DzJX pic.twitter.com/cDuGQts9XQ— Ekrem KONUR (@Ekremkonur) November 15, 2021
The 20 year-old is enjoying a regular first-team role with Les Olympiens this term, and he has previously insisted that regular playing time was a priority of his. With Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes proving to be a formidable partnership, with a club record for a defender having been splashed on the Englishman this summer, you could be forgiven for believing that Saliba may feel like his opportunities will be hard to come by, and Arsenal themselves may also have similar thinking.
With this in mind, it would hardly be a shock if we was to cash-in on Saliba without him even making his debut at the Emirates, while we also have Dan Ballard firmly impressing on loan also, who will also be hoping for a chance in the near future. Just Arsenal’s Yash Bisht has previously claimed that it would be a mistake to let him leave, but the selling fee could well be invested into other key areas of the team, such as bringing in a new deadly striker into the fold…
Do you believe Saliba could displace White in the pecking order? Should we consider selling while the youngster’s stock is high, especially with the need in the role appearing slim-to-none at present?
Patrick
I’m shocked that this rumour has emerged!
It’s not about displacing anyone or starting….not sure if you’ve watched Arsenal over the past 2 decades but we have a tendency to get injuries mate.
Anyway like most people have eluded to on here, they don’t see him coming back. My guess is we’ll sell for something ridiculous like 15mil.
15m – more than what I had in mind!!!
I wouldn’t be surprised at all but of it did happen it would be extremely short sighted and totally unexplainable.
This, if true, is absurd…🤨
Three top centre backs sounds good to me.
What would entice the club to sell him? £20m? £30m? £40m? £50m? That match against Mbappe really made his reputation and showed how good he is becoming.
ESR and Ramsdale start for Ingerlund tonight!
And Saka, Declan! What with the darts and Married at first sight Australia also; I’m spoilt for choice!!
I think Arteta has been largely spot on when it comes to transfers.Other than Willian and Ceballos’ second loan,he has been amazing.I beleive it will be the right decision if he chooses to sell Saliba.Didnt people make noise when he sold Willock to NewCastle?
And Mari, Runaarson, Odergaard.
They should keep on dreaming😂….. He is going nowhere!
If PSG were sufficiently impressed to make an offer of 40m for Saliba, I suspect we would sell.White and Gabriel are performing well and while Holding and Chambers have their failings, they are decent back up.Mari, I would sell .We should also not lose sight of the fact that in Tomiyasu, we have another fine CB who was converted to a RB in Italy .Ideally we could think about recruiting a quality young RB next season ,if Bellerin, Cedric and Chambers are moved on which seems likely.In this respect, Nathan Patterson of Rangers fits the bill as he is particularly effective going forward.Saliba could turn out to be a good financial investment for Arsenal, without ever pulling on the red shirt.That would make him unique in the history of the Club or has it happened before?
Didn’t we buy Clive Allen for £1 million pounds and then swap him for aKenny Samson 67 days later, without him playing a competitive game for us?
Kenny Sansom any day of the week!!
Sometimes l wonder what is the agenda of these writers and commentators. Controversy?,Yes!! This hatred for Arsenal will not go away. Even when it seems like the team is moving in an upward trajectory, their mission is to destabilize and and derail Arsenal,even,from within too. Every successful team has at least two outstanding players for each position on the field. Why should Arsenal have only one competent player for every position? Remember, it only takes a serious injury to a player , then what, Back to mediocrity. Why would Arsenal want to sell Saliba now? Shame on those of you who think that way, without giving him an opportunity to play and prove his worth. Saliba has been a fan of Arsenal since his boyhood days , unlike a few, who are here only for the money and the opportunity (at Arsenal =bridge)to get to move on bigger teams.
But obviously with all that has gone on Arteta doesn’t like him. Everything else doesn’t matter.
We’ll need Saliba if we get back to European football. It would be extremely short-sighted to sell Saliba with our mediocre 3 backup CB’s; Mari, Holding, and Chambers.
Then again, we will sell Mavroporas for a mere song and dance, so who knows. A good window and good run of games does not make one a transfer genius.
For all that Arteta and Edu got right, I could match them with a disaster transfer they got wrong.
The rhetoric that Arteta doesn’t like Saliba is pure baloney.
I hope you are right (what proves your case) but nothing i have seen makes me confident that you are. There is no smoke without fire and there is plenty of smoke.
I see no smoke though.
None!
Saliba shouldnt be sold. We require atleast 3 top CB’s considering injuries and suspensions and next season if we are in Europe, players need rest and have to be rotated taking into account the packed schedule.