Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Report: Saliba rejects Arsenal’s first offer, talks to continue

According to ESPN, William Saliba has rejected Arsenal’s first contract offer as the club look to tie him down to a new long-term deal.

It’s claimed by James Olley that both parties are willing participants in the negotiations, which will step up again next week, and that the Gunners remain confident the 21-year-old will stay at Emirates Stadium past 2024 when his current contract, which was recently extended by a year, ends.

Saliba moved to Arsenal from Saint Etienne in 2019 but only made his senior debut in August after three loan spells back in France. Last season at Marseille, he was crowned Ligue 1 player of the season and on his return to London, Mikel Arteta was suitably impressed by his development.

In a recent interview with Jamie Carragher, the manager reflected: “The moment that Saliba came in and I looked at the amount of development he had in the last year at Marseille, I said, we need to adapt and straight away.”

Since pre-season Saliba has formed a formidable partnership with Gabriel in the heart of the Gunners’ defence playing all but 14 minutes of the Premier League campaign.

The defender has also become a fixture in the France senior squad and featured once at the World Cup as his country finished runners-up.

Several clubs, including Paris Saint Germain, are monitoring Saliba’s situation but it’s thought Arsenal are in a decent place to get a deal done with Champions League football likely to be on offer next season.

Speaking after the win at Sp*rs, Saliba was open about his representatives negotiating a new deal and said he was “so happy” at Arsenal.

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truj

Saliba to Chelsea? 😂

Anon

500k a week for 10 years

Qwaliteee

Yeah, bye bye Troll.

Teryima Adi

Shhh… We don’t want Boehly here.😳😀😀

wrightstuff8

dont joke bro… Its too much!

Eric Blair

I was going to post the exact same thing!

If they could do it they would, but I don’t see him going there. It doesn’t look good to me, I see a transfer to PSG coming in the summer.

Qwaliteee

And what if we win the title?

Eric Blair

Maybe he’ll see that as even more of a reason to leave, job done. Perhaps. It seems to me we are moving into a new era in football. More and more clubs are owned not as investment vehicles but vanity projects or for sportswashing. The normal economic rules don’t apply to them as they do to us and other clubs such as Liverpool who are based on fiscal realities. How we compete with such recklessness is an interesting question, and as with Mudryk we can be out-gunned financially at any minute. This is why I’m a bit sceptical regarding Saliba’s… Read more »

Qwaliteee

Maybe you haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about, job done.

JGOD

Agreed. Think he’ll leave. Looks more motivated by money than winning. Anytime these players start contract talks for huge money, they plateau on consistently playing well. Hazard, Auba, Ozil, Salah, Sterling, Neymar, Mbappe, Bale etc. The odds aren’t in the favor of players who play well for big money then get the contract, The most consistent players are the ones on humble contracts pushing to be great in my opinion.

Qwaliteee

Heh.

You jest…..

karl g

Still mid-table, but they’ll need a double decker dressing room soon.

Heavenly Chapecoense

I do not think players should forfeit let’s say 75K more a week for a club. If clubs do not want you, you get dumped. But I really want him to stay.

Jamie

Get the deal done!

Deano

Probably had Todd Bullion in his ear.

Nketibag

Wad Bully

Emi Rates

Chad Bulky?

Daveo

Bulk Barn

Fezec

Todger Buoy

Emi Rates

Tad Bonad

TeeCee

Todger Gonad.

Forbes

Tall Boner

Emi Rates

More like Small Boner.

Jesus of Sao Paulo

Toad Bully even.

RockyRog58

Whatever it takes please !!! Get it done !!!

Boy Bastin

All the cards are held by Saliba and his agent. Their reaction to our second offer should provide a pointer to their thinking. Fingers crossed.

Qwaliteee

Mate, you should go on ‘Mastermind.’

Chosen Specialised Subject: The Bleedin’ Obvious.

Forest gooner

Edu on thin ice

Emi Rates

I love that show! Who else is on this year’s edition?

Qwaliteee

He is.

He’s letting Arteta down, he’s letting the players down – and he’s letting the fans down.

The money is THERE – it took him two months to put on the table for Mudryk what Chelsea did in a matter of days.

The guy needs to fucking wake up and start paying market value.

Arteta will only take so much of this or – down the line – he too will be off.

Sdani

How do you know all this? your insight is exceptional on the day to day business.

Qwaliteee

It’s insight pal, just common sense.

Karse

So 100m for 40 games in ukraine and 6 cl games with 2 of his goals against rangers for mudryk is market value, shut the f*** up.

Qwaliteee

Well you’re about to find out what life is like trying to win a title with a paper thin squad.

Yeah, I’ll shut the fuck up.

Because so will you if either Saka or Martinelli pick up a long term injury.

This Must Be The Place

Have you not heard of budgeting?

Qwaliteee

Have you not heard of market forces?

Dominic

Have you not heard of outliers?

Qwaliteee

Have you not heard (herd?) of sheep?

Daveo

Have you not a herd of antlers?

Daveo

ROFL…We should start a new reality TV show called “budgeting with billionaires”. I imagine it’s be a top rater because it seems most people seem very concerned about how Stan so morally spends his billions on dollars.

Chris

Apparently Edu *and* Arteta were tapping up Mudryk months before tabling an offer which put Shaktar owner’s nose out of joint and they started playing hard ball (fair enough). I mean I’m clearly not as clued up as you are on these matters but would seem to me that Edu isn’t the only one to blame for that. And hasn’t Edu overseen some pretty decent transfers lately?

Qwaliteee

He has, I’m not disputing that.

My concerns lie with our ability to keep our top players.

Not much point in developing or signing these guys if you can’t keep hold of them when they become successful.

backsakacrack

I wonder how much not having another French speaker in the club is important to him.
I can imagine it must be at least semi important.
Imo we should go in for Diaby or one of the other talented young French wingers out there. It may well help our Willy in the long run.

Magneto

As far as I’m aware, his centre half partner Gabriel also speaks French (as a result of his time at Lyon). Arteta speaks French too (among other languages).

A Voice in the Noise

*his time at Lille

DublinGooner

Lokonga is Belgian so speaks French. If it’s an issue, we could always bring Pepe back from loan 😬

Henkamp

Exactl re: Lokonga. They both seem to be quite close and I figured it’s because they speak same language.

Deano

Being serious, we cannot lose this lad. Serious talent and would hate to see him at one of the vultures.

Making signings is also a good way to prove how serious the club is moving forward.

Qwaliteee

Exactly.

Another reason why our dithering over Mudryk (a player greatly wanted by Arteta never mind all the ‘experts’ on this page) was inexcusable.

Jasonissimo

There was no dithering. Arsenal was willing to go only so high on the financial package, and in the end, Shaktar and Arsenal realized an agreement was not likely to be reached in January but rather in the summer. Only after that did Chelsea fly out to meet them in Turkey and negotiate the deal with the club and player. That is, by the time Chelsea came in, Arsenal were already out. At the end of the day, it is about cash. Shaktar wanted more than Arsenal thought the deal was worth to them. The rest of the noise is… Read more »

Qwaliteee

I KNOW it’s about cash!! I was the one getting down voted down for protesting the pittance that the club were initially offering. We should have gone in £80m tops before Christmas and got the deal over the line. We didn’t. We wasted everyone’s time by going in with two laughable bids. And then came out with a statement saying we weren’t prepared to get into a bidding war. That’s exactly what we were doing…….!!! The same is now happening with Saliba and unless this club WAKE THE FUCK UP and start putting decent money on the table, then this… Read more »

ealing

You can only field 11 players.
For £80m Mudryk would have gone on the bench !! Otherwise you put martinelli on the bench. either way ESR will never start a match and may only rarely come on as a substitute unless there is an injury. that’s overspending for an impact substitue.

Qwaliteee

It’s a squad game now mate.

And ours, as you will see, is painfully thin.

Title race? FA Cup? Europa League?

You’ll catch up, eventually, although I have my doubts.

Vieiraera

Never mind, mate. The same bandwagon crowd downvoting you today would slay Edu and company in few years time if Mudryk goes on to become the super star many have predicted and win chelsea trophies. Then the 100m would look like peanuts.

Qwaliteee

The ignorance on here is truly staggering, I must admit. What people can’t seem to get into their FIFA 23 heads is that Mikel Arteta wanted him and Edu was (eventually) pushed to put £80m on the table – so the kid must be doing something right. Whether he’s a success at Chelsea now is peripheral in many ways. For the record I don’t think he will be half as successful at Chelsea as he would undoubtedly have been in this Arteta side; Potter hasn’t got a fucking clue what he is doing. If Chelsea happen upon a half decent… Read more »

Alex

By my count, at least 8 of the 11 starting last Sunday were Edu signings. It would have been 9 if Jesus was fit.

He’s probably doing ok.

Russ

Where do you get your information from mate? I don’t think it’s ‘quality’ let’s put it that way. No offence.

MeSoHornsey

Chelsea have a spare half a billion to take a £100m punt on a mostly unproven young talent. We don’t.

It’s as simple as that.

Swallow it up and wallow in the misery of being 8 points clear.

Qwaliteee

We have an owner who is one of the richest men in the world. In addition wife is the heiress of the Walmart fortune.

So don’t start trying to tell me that the cupboard is bare.

Swallow that up and pray neither Saka or Martinelli or Partey get injured.

Henkamp

Man United spent 100M on Antony and are probably regretting it now because he is ass. If Arsenal didn’t feel Mudryk was worth that amount, then so be it. It’s not for you to start using that as a yardstick to stir up some kind of negativity.

Alex

I do not agree

Qwaliteee

Cool.

Treat yourself to an extra thumb down.😂

Have one on me! 😂👎

Bongogooner

Get it done or sell him for 200’000’000 plus add on, plus sell on clause plus buyback clause. If mudryk is worth that money….
And then donate 10 quid to some charity that we don’t look too much like creedy cunts

Bit for real… Get it done

Eric Blair

Sure, we should hope we get it done. But if not, he won’t go for crazy money. He’s a defender with a year left on his contract, we’d be lucky to get the money we spent back for him.

Bongogooner

Premier league winner, worldcup runner up, one of the best defenders

Eric Blair

I like your optimism! But when it comes to selling players for good money we haven’t got a great recent history. Perhaps Edu will be able to change that.

Qwaliteee

Sorry mate, that is absolute crap.

He’s already one of the best centre halves in the world; we could name our price now, never mind if we also win the title.

Mesut Ö’Neill

Well if Wesley Fofana is £80m them in comparison Saliba is £120m minimum, not that I would entertain such foolishness.

Qwaliteee

The only thing that’s foolish here mate is Arsenal coming out with Toy Town money and expecting to sign and/or keep world class players.

(Downvoters – down vote me all you want. The truth clearly hurts)

Eric Blair

We all love him, he is really fantastic, but he wasn’t a first pick for France in the World Cup so ‘best in the world’ is a bit of a stretch right now.

This, for me, is the best reason for him to stay. He still has a lot to prove in England even if we win the league. He should stay until we’re 3 times champions and CL winners then go for 200m somewhere!

Qwaliteee

And we’re going to win that lot operating as we do?

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

Brady’s bunch

Lot of people with blinkers on over this they don’t to see the potential for him to leave, he could be Madrid player for the next ten years he’s at that level and as you say we will only get small money if he’s into his final year. We’d all be clambering for him to sign the new deal but it’s very possible he will go elsewhere.

Eric Blair

Everything crossed he signs on with us of course, it would be huge as he’s already a fantastic player and will only get better.

But money talks and other clubs will offer him more than we can. And I don’t at this moment see a personal attachment to the club in the way Saka or Martinelli have.

Sdani

Its a delicate situation, balancing these contract offers. If you give him silly money, that probably cause you some problems down the line with others like ødegaard, saka, martinelli etc. if you give them all 200+ a/week you probably blow your budget

Qwaliteee

Well, perhaps Odegaard, Saliba and Martinelli will all leave (they will if the club offer them shit money) and then you’ll have your precious fucking budget intact.

Crash Fistfight

Erm, didn’t they just exercise the option to extend his (and Saka’s) contracts by a year for that very reason?

Boy Bastin

Happy, but determined to get the best deal – and you can’t blame him for that. Let’s see what happens with the inevitable second offer from Arsenal.

Several other clubs will be watching closely of course as the article mentions. And as we know from Mr Mudryk, the offer lots of dosh from elsewhere can make a difference despite what a player may say about their club.

Hopefully though, Saliba will sign but as they say, the deal ain’t done ’till the ink is dry on the contract.

Qwaliteee

Thanks for telling us all again what we all knew already….🙄

Qwaliteee

Here we fucking go again – penny pinching….!!!

FFS Arsenal, PAY THE GUY WHAT HE IS WORTH.

This club make my teeth itch at times.

El Mintero

Last season we spent more on players than any other club in the world…not exactly penny pinching.

I do agree though that we should prioritize this deal above all others.

Pat Fried Rice with Egg

Who shat in your cornflakes?

Qwaliteee

An incompetent board and a football club sleepwalking it’s way back to mid table if it doesn’t wake up.

Still, you keep your blinkers on mate.

Hurensohn

We’re top of the league by 8 points … “incompetent board and a football club sleepwalking it’s way back to mid table” …heh

Qwaliteee

I’m talking about our transfer negotiations – just in case you hadn’t noticed.

Context? Hello? 🙄

Qwaliteee

*transfer and contract negotiations

Alex

Anyone who accepts the first offer simply hasn’t negotiated.

Qwaliteee

Tony Adams used to, bless his heart.

Teryima Adi

Give him more wages and the deal is done, Edu.😀

Boy Bastin

Saliba has been/will be offered much more money that he is currently getting and I think he’ll sign. However, Arsenal have worked hard for several years to get the club out of the position they were in – going back to the final years of AW – of having players on huge contracts (Ozil being the worst example but there were several others) that made the wage bill unsustainable.

While Saliba (and Saka/Martinelli as well) will all be offered very good contracts indeed, I don’t see Arsenal literally “breaking the bank” and putting the club back where it was before.

Daveo

Hate to break it to you mate, this whole existence of football is unsustainable.

Denarchy7

Pay the man!

Qwaliteee

Spot on.

Qwaliteee

At the moment, we clearly aren’t.

Dangerous game to be playing….

dariusz

He is looking for the best deal possible because 20% of the proceeds will go to France to help with wine production.

¶aulson

Yeah… and 20% of Martinelli’s will build another Jesus statue in Brazil

Cdngooner

This one wearing a number 9?

Gabigol

I can’t imagine him going to another country where he has to learn another language and start all over again.
PSG is the only destination possible after us. But they would pay top dollar for Saliba as many other teams would start a bidding war. I’d be interested to know if the extension also included a hefty pay rise to get an indication of what it would take to renegotiate but also to protect his value against other teams

Master Floda

Why not? At that age I had lived in 5 countries and spoke as many languages well enough to get by. While adapting to a new environment can sometimes be tricky, I really don’t think this is much of a consideration for a young player. When you have kids who go to school, moving might get trickier (hence the “X wants to stay in London”), but for a kid like Saliba, the excitement of something new might even be a lure.

Challah Baker Soldier Spy

I relate to this, I speak English and Glaswegian fluently but can get by in many others, it’s all about the attitude…

Brady’s bunch

Real Madrid could come knocking for him and we’d be powerless to stop him leaving that’s the reality

Qwaliteee

Another one who’s been brainwashed into thinking we’re skint.

Unbelievable.

John

My feeling is that he holds all the cards and he will not be an Arsenal player this time next year. It’s not what I want to happen of course but I just think that if he really wanted to stay the noises would be a bit more ‘just get me a pen’ and a bit less ‘my agent is talking to the club and I am just focusing on my football.’ In any case, if he decides to not sign an extension he will go for huge, huge money, way more than we paid St Etienne, and more than… Read more »

Chrispy

I’ve always thought he’d run his contract down. Was on loan for too long and should have extended sooner. Hope I’m wrong though but our bargaining position is weak.

Eric Blair

Agreed, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t already have a plan lined up with PSG, probably hope to sign for free in 18 months or on the (relative) cheap in the summer.

Qwaliteee

Spud talk.

A Different George

If you’re worried about PSG, they don’t care about transfer fees.

Eric Blair

Good point, but if he declares he’s only interested in going to PSG, either this summer or the one after, there will be no bidding war for him and we’d have to accept what PSG offered or nothing in one year. Reality, unfortunately.

El Mintero

Don’t think he would go there. Instead, he has Real Madrid written all over him….if he doesn’t stay with us for at least another 3 years.

Eazy Deezy

I think what he said was fairly promising actually. He said:

“I am so happy here. The club is speaking with my agent and me, the only thing I can do is focus on my football. I am so happy here”

Sounds fine to me, typical thing to say when negotiations are ongoing, it’s very rare for players to do a Martinelli and say they’re definitely signing

Adedayo

I don’t understand why AFC is getting miserly with their own players who just saw you willing to pay as much as £75 million for a Ukrainian.

Saliba as been so fantastic for us this season give him a befitting package that will make feel valuable and ward off any interested suitors

Emi Rates

How do you know we’re being miserly? Have you seen the contract he was offered?

Qwaliteee

Heh.

And how do you know it WASN’T miserly?

Given the pathetic bids we put in initially for Mudryk, our current track record in negotiating realistic market value numbers leaves a lot to be desired.

ArsenesLongSufferingZipper

Since you were obviously privy to all the negotiations (presumably as a fly on the wall), maybe you can enlighten us with the details. Don’t forget to quote exactly how much he was offered in this “first leg” of the talks.

Qwaliteee

You don’t have to be a ‘fly on the wall’

All you have to see is the penny pinching dogs dinner we’ve made of trying to sign Vlahovic, Raphinha, Douglas Luiz and now Mudryk.

You don’t have to be David Ornstein to know that this first contract bid would have been yet another embarrassing pittance.

Bryan

Enough qwalitee ,ur begining to lean too much on emotion. If u wanna follow mudryk ,raphina ,vlahovic n co then fine .

Qwaliteee

Just listing the players we missed out on due to poor negotiating from our board.

That’s not ‘leaning on emotion’, that’s stating a fact.

Jasonissimo

How much should a Ukrainian be worth? In today’s market, more or less than a Frenchman?

Qwaliteee

Don’t talk soft!

A player’s worth is in his ability and work rate, not his nationality.

Mass Gooner

How are you even complaining right now? We’ve done fantastic transfer business that has led to this squad and this position in the league! Penny pinching is absolutely needed if you’re running a club with a modicum of fiscal responsibility. It’s easy to say the money’s there but in all likelihood there’s a number of factors that will be important including cash flow, debt etc., not to mention setting precedents within the squad .. Gabriel is just as important as Saliba, why should he not get more? Why not Ben White? And so on… The fact is we can’t afford… Read more »

Qwaliteee

Right. Time for a reality check. City will spend big in the summer. Newcastle will spend big in the summer. Chelsea will spend big in the summer. And Utd are in talks with a proposed takeover by Apple – which, if it happens, will make them richer than PSG. So, all this talk of Arsenal being the best in the business is in even greater danger than before. If we don’t max the shit out of this opportunity of being eight clear of City and secure the contracts of Saliba, Saka and Martinelli (if those three go, Arteta goes) and… Read more »

Domi

He’s probably been given a very good offer, but they (him and his agent) know that in negotiations the first offer will be followed by a 2nd, and they know we don’t want to lose him. For some reason I’m not too worried, he is super important in our team, we’re challenging for the big trophy and he will probably want to stick around for 2-3 years to see if we really are becoming one of the hottest clubs on the planet. He’s also surely well connected with his teammates, especially the young ones (and we have an abundance of… Read more »

Adedayo

150k-175k/week shouldn’t be a problem for AFC to offer such a young and very efficient Saliba.
COYG please note that Todd Bullion is on mission to derail us and he’s probably getting first info concerning this Salaiba/AFC avoidable and unnecessary negotiations

Fireman Sam

Todd Boner can blow himself

Emi Rates

He can’t. That’s why he hijacks everyone else’s deals. The fat cunt!

Anon

He’s probably compensating for something

Steve0

I’d imagine we’re probably looking at more than that to extend him at this point. We’ve just let his contract run down too far to get any sort of major discount. He seems happy, so I’m sure he won’t but unsignable, but we’re probably going to need to pay up for him with him having all of the leverage.

Qwaliteee

£200k a week shouldn’t be a problem for this club, never mind £150 – £175k.

I would be offering him at least £180k a week.

Djgooner

Any player would be daft to take the first offer at 21. You are guaranteed to make more on the second and third offers.

Emi Rates

Or you realise you’re in a good place while making it clear what it takes to sign a new contract. By that I don’t mean holding the club over a barrel, you stay within reason. There must be no tolerance for greed.

Failing that he can chance it and do an Oxlade-Chamberlain. It may work or it may not. Didn’t work out so well for Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Qwaliteee

That’s true.

But you can rest assured that what Arsenal have offered here – if the Mudryk bids are anything to go by – is probably an utter joke.

Domi

How is what we’ve offered a joke? We were prepared to break our transfer record, go above the fee we paid for Pepe. Pool paid half of that for Gakpo, who should be valued higher than mudryk due to his standing and experience. Just because we didn’t want to accept the madness of the fee shaktar was asking for an unproven (7 gls in Ukraine, 3 in CL, less than 50 starts) and chelski were (and it’d be interesting to know if they’d do what they did if we didn’t get this close to landing him), doesn’t mean we’re incompetent.… Read more »

Sheldon

Every time I saw him at the world cup I felt the pressure of mbappe tapping him up. The lure of psg is probably impossible to repel for a young Frenchman. Hope Edu can pull off a miracle

Emi Rates

“The lure of psg is probably impossible to repel for a young Frenchman.”

He’s a major player at a top club in the best league in the world. Why would anyone swap that for the plastic that is PSG?

Eric Blair

€€€€ and to play at the premier club in his own country. Why did Mbappe sign on to stay with the club?

Emi Rates

Because the French League is s joke compared to the PL. PSG is a monstrosity in that joke of a league. Mbappe went for the greedy money and appears to be unfulfilled. He’s wasted there.

If that’s what Saliba wants he can have it. Let him live to regret it at the end of his career. Or he can stay with us and achieve real things.

A Different George

Historically, the very top French players went to Juve and Madrid, not England (Zidane the most obvious example). I think Saliba will stay with us for several years, and then head to Spain, not France. Really, I’m more interested in hoping I’m right about that “several years” part.

Jasonissimo

Historically, Nottingham Forest is a force in European football.

A Different George

Yeah, but Trevor Francis was a bit before Zidane. Look at Henry, who was not a huge star when he came to Arsenal, became a great player for us and then went to Spain. Ditto Patrick. Benzema, quite suited to the Prem–think a much quicker Harry Kane–has never palyed here. Nor Griezmann. Or, for that matter, look at Mbappe–if he leaves PSG, where is he likely to go?

Qwaliteee

He probably wants to stay with Arsenal. He probably loves this club and the fans with every fibre of his being. But would YOU stay with your employers if they weren’t paying you what you knew to be your market value worth….? Or if you’re self employed, would you continue to do the put up with an unsatisfactory wage, if you clearly knew you deserved better…? Players like William Saliba do NOT grow on trees. We have spent millions and millions for two decades, trying to find a centre half partnership like Saliba and Gabriel. And now we’re trying to… Read more »

Vin_unleaded

Neymar? Mbappe turning down Real? Messi going there?

Emi Rates

Neymar is a classic example of someone taking the money and enjoying the easy glory of playing for a monstrosity that has basically bought a domestic league. That’s all they have ever won.

Messi? He was desperate to stay where he was and since he was forced to move he has looked like a lost soul.

A Different George

He has played brilliantly for PSG.

Emi Rates

Who? If course PSG are brilliant in the French League. How hard can that be with their backing? That’s why the club is such a monstrosity.

Qwaliteee

Seriously mate, what is your problem with people earning money…..?

Is it the player’s fault that tv companies and oil magnets have destroyed the infrastructure of the game since the early 90’s…..?

Are you trying to tell me that if you were 21 and could play like Neymar or Messi then you’d be doffing your cap at Colchester Utd on £500 a week?

Keep your communist rhetoric for the pub.

Emi Rates

“Seriously mate, what is your problem with people earning money…..?”

None what so ever. Greed is not about earning money. Greed is a disease that eats the soul out of everything it touches. Do you not understand the difference?

Emi Rates

“Keep your communist rhetoric for the pub.”

Spud talk.

Beef

Magnate. Although an oil magnet would be an extremely useful invention. 🙂

Qwaliteee

Yeah. Damn auto. Well spotted. 🍺

portugunner

please stop offending communists!

Qwaliteee

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

A Different George

And, although he’s s Paris kid, he played and was lionised at Marseille–where the hatred of PSG makes our attitude to Spurs look like gentle banter,

Eazy Deezy

He’s only 21. Makes sense to do at least a few more years in the PL, he has little to lose by signing on. He’s got plenty of time to move wherever he wants later in his career

My only worry is that he might think a Bosman in 18 months would be attractive

Jasonissimo

That’s like saying every young Englishman wants to play for Manchester City. Do they?

Skinnyarse

Watch out Toad Ghoulies will get his wallet out again.
Sign the ting Willi

Emi Rates

Crud Bellicose!

razuuu

Is he worth 200K a week? For me yes. Give him what he wants.

razuuu

judging by the down votes people think no? If he said 200k a week or I leave, you’d want him gone?

Emi Rates

If he’s a greedy pig and that’s his entire MO I’ll want him gone so fast his feet won’t touch the ground.

Qwaliteee

Thank God you’re not on the board.

We’d be in a relegation dogfight, with Mustafi and Co still at the club.

Parteylikeits2001

It totally depends. If Saka, Martinelli , Odegaard etc we’re getting 120k a week and Saliba says 200k or I leave, then maybe yes. We would then have to make those players earn the same/more money and that means hundreds of thousands more per week being spent. Yes he is a key player but we have a structure, a budget, harmony in the squad…it’s amazing what a large wage for one person can do to unsettle others. I’d be shocked if he was asking for that kind of money right now anyway but I’m not worried…Arsenal prob will offer him… Read more »

Steve0

Saka and Martinelli will have 2 years left on their contract at the end of this season, both are going to be making 200k per week very soon. If we try to keep our core making considerably less than the rest of the top clubs in England are paying, we’re going to lose our core. That’s not saying these guys are going to need Ronaldo money, but to expect them to sign new deals that are significantly under market value after we’ve allowed their contracts to wind down is unrealistic.

Qwaliteee

Hallelujah!

Someone else out there gets it!!

Phew!!

👏 🍺 🍺 😂

Eric Blair

I would say this. The reason we are doing what we are doing isn’t any one player, the way we’ve been playing since Jesus was injured should show that. It is the team Arteta has put together, and although there are extremely talented individuals in there, it’s the group that counts. Anyone who threatens that by thinking they’re better than the rest and demand stupid money should be shown the door, for as much money as possible of course. If we didn’t have Saliba and had played White and Tomiyasu in defence this season I wouldn’t expect a dramatic difference… Read more »

Qwaliteee

Can’t believe the muppets who have down voted this. He is one of the best centre halve pairing this club have had since Toure and Campbell – hell, this starting XI is the best we have had since the Invincibles – you pay them their worth. It’s taken this club two decades to get back to where we are now; this is NOT fucking FIFA 23, teams like the one we have now are a rarity, a beautiful accident. You don’t start penny pinching these guys – especially with the vultures already circling – you pay them what they are… Read more »

Vin_unleaded

If he wants 200k a week, sell him in the summer – start a bidding war and we’d get decent money for him.

Qwaliteee

Naive. If a world class player on your books wants £200 grand a week you PAY him £200 grand a week. Otherwise what is the point of aspiring to be the best club in the world…..? Where exactly do you want Arsenal Football Club? Top of the Premiership? Then you need – as we are doing at the moment – to employ world class players. And, sorry to say, but if you’re not going to pay those top players their market value, you lose them. And in our case you don’t just lose William Saliba, you also lose Bukayo Saka.… Read more »

Qwaliteee

How can people downvote this….?

Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.

Mentalista

Respectfully, you sound like you’re in some pain, and could take some time off from discussing football with anonymous strangers. There’s more in life than that.

Qwaliteee