Journalist Charles Watts has said that he doesn’t expect Arsenal to sell William Saliba this summer despite interest in the player.
According to a recent report in FootMercato, Marseille want to sign the young defender on a permanent deal after he impressed with the French club on loan last season.
In response to this, Watts has said that only a ‘big money’ bid would tempt the Gunners into considering a sale and that he just doesn’t see Marseille having the finances to offer such a deal.
While speaking on YouTube, the journalist outlined his feelings on the current situation, saying that the Ligue 1 club could ‘test the water all they want’ but he doesn’t expect any sale to happen.
Watts said (05:36): “It’d be it’d be big money, he’s still got two years left has contract. He’s a fully fledged international now, he is Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year.
“You’re talking big, big money. And I just can’t see Marseille being able to afford that and doing what else they want to do in the summer transfer window.
“So they can they can continue to test the water all they want, but I’d be very, very surprised if we see any sort of thing happened with this Marseille stuff certainly.
Will William Saliba get a chance at Arsenal?
Yes
No
“Unless he comes in doesn’t get any sort of chance in preseason, and it looks very clear that [Mikel] Arteta still doesn’t fancy him.”
TIF thoughts on William Saliba and Arsenal…
The centre-back is yet to play a senior game for the Gunners – despite signing for the club back in 2019 for a fee of £27m. With that in mind, it does seem likely that Arsenal would at least want to give the youngster a chance at the club before selling him.
On top of that, as Watts mentions, Saliba won the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year so he clearly is a very promising prospect with the potential to become a star within European football..
Marseille may hope to sign the defender and RMC Sport claim they have loft ambitions in the summer transfer market – but even so, after these latest quotes, it does feel as though Saliba may be out of reach for now.