French club Saint Etienne have confirmed that their defender William Saliba is set to sign for Arsenal but that he will remain with them on loan for the 2019/20 season.
The Emirates club’s rivals Tottenham Hotspur attempted to hijack the deal at the last minute but Saliba has chosen the Gunners over them.
This was confirmed by the president of Saint Etienne Bernard Caiazzo who told French publication Le Progres(via Metro):
‘Everything is on the right track with Arsenal. William will play next season with us.’
The Metro further reports that the deal to bring him to the Emirates has taken some time to be completed because the French club initially rejected the £27m bid that the Gunners made. In response to this, Arsenal increased their bid to £29.8m with a further £6.3m to be given as add-ons.
This was enough to convince Saint Etienne to let go of their prized starlet but they made sure that Saliba stayed with them for the 19/20 season. While this is not ideal for the North London club, it helps that they have at least secured the future of one of the most highly rated center backs in the footballing world.
Saliba will be able to continue his career in an environment where he is already comfortable. This will surely help him become a better player and that should eventually benefit the Gunners even more than him coming this year and being thrown into the rough and tough nature of the Premier League.
The youngster is all set to become the second signing of the summer for Arsenal after they secured another exciting youngster from Brazil in the form of Gabriel Martinelli. The Emirates club need to be active in the transfer market to bolster their squad as they look to get back into the Champions League.
It will make fans happy that a player like Saliba chose them over their bitter rivals as it would have not looked good if the defender had ended up going to the other side of North London.
Now that the signing of Saliba has been secured, the club should start focusing on the upcoming season and think about how they can improve upon what they achieved last season. Fans will be hoping that manager Unai Emery will be able to improve his performance this year.
