Arsenal’s stance on selling William Saliba this summer has been revealed.
Saliba, despite signing for the club in 2019, is yet to make a competitive appearance for Arsenal.
Instead, the stopper has been loaned out on three occasions, with his latest loan seeing him plie his trade in France with Marseille.
And though he lacks some experience, Saliba is was a key cog in Marseille’s backline, who boasted one of the best defensive records in Ligue 1 last term.
This has led to interest from Marseille in signing Saliba on a permanent basis this summer.
However, the Frenchman has since returned to north London and has been playing on a regular basis for Mikel Arteta’s side in pre-season.
When writing about Saliba on Monday, Fabrizio Romano insisted that Arsenal have never had any doubts about the stopper and that they consider him a key player for this season:
“Arsenal have never had any doubts: William Saliba is part of the project and there is no negotiation with Marseille, as things stand. Sure, Marseille would love the idea of keeping William, but Arsenal consider him a key player for this season,” Romano explained.
“The parties are talking about his contract but there is not yet a completed or imminent agreement, it is an ongoing discussion.
“Of course, Edu and Arteta believe in Saliba for the Arsenal project and for his departure a really crazy offer would be needed.”
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