William Saliba who has been heavily linked with Arsenal over the past few weeks has been pictured alongside Alexander Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang during the Gunners’ pre-season tour of the USA.
According to reports in Metro, Saliba was watching his club lose 2-1 to Marseille in Washington at DC United’s Audi Field and was joined on the sidelines by the two Arsenal stars.
It further states that the North London club have agreed to a deal that is said to be in the region of £28m to sign the exciting defender.
The deal will see him being sent back to Saint Etienne on loan for the 2019/20 season. This was confirmed by the president of the French club who said that the Gunners had beaten off late competition from Tottenham.
As a result of this confirmation, the signing of the defender is expected to be announced sooner rather than later and the presence of both Lacazette and Aubameyang has added fuel to the fire.
Here is the pic:
Photo: Alexandre Lacazette, Ainsley Maitland-Niles & Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, alongside heavily linked defender William Saliba, in attendance at Saint-Etienne’s pre-season friendly against Marseille in Washington last night. 👀 #afc pic.twitter.com/XF22ZmAUd7
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) July 22, 2019
Saliba is regarded as one of the most exciting young center backs in the game today and it would be quite a coup for the Gunners to get him. For Aubameyang it was also a case of him going to see his former club in action as he himself spent three years playing for Saint Etienne.
And apart from these two, there was also the presence of a third Arsenal player in the form Ainsley Maitland-Niles. It is not ideal for the Gunners that Saliba would be going back to France on loan but this also shows how highly rated he is by the French side.
It tells you a lot about how good a player Saliba is that the Emirates club are willing to wait another year to see him in action. When the signing of the center back is confirmed, he will become the second player that Arsenal have bought this summer along with Brazilian youngster Gabriel Martinelli.
Saliba is thought to have the potential to become one of the best center backs in the world one day and fans will be happy that he will be plying his trade with the Gunners. But for now, the London club will have to focus on the season without the Frenchman and provide him with a solid base when he does come to the Emirates next year.
