William Saliba has ended speculation about his future by signing a new contract at Arsenal.
The four-year deal will keep the France international, 22, at Emirates Stadium until 2027.
Signed in 2019 for £27 million from Saint-Etienne, Saliba had to wait three years to make his Gunners’ debut. He was finally integrated into the first team last August and immediately made an impact, forming a strong rapport with fellow centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes as Mikel Arteta’s side stormed to the top of the table.
Had the Frenchman not picked up a season-ending back injury in March, Arsenal may well have ended their 19-year wait for a Premier League title.
On est ensemble.
Wilo stays ❤️ pic.twitter.com/XxsneBf90m
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 7, 2023
Prior to last season, Saliba embarked on three loan moves, first at former club Saint-Etienne, then a half season at Nice before an eye-catching year at Marseille where he was voted Ligue 1 player of the season for 2021/22.
His original contract ran until 2024 but the Gunners activated a 12-month extension clause in January giving us more time to thrash out revised terms with the player.
Given his stellar season, his elevation to the France senior squad and reported interest from Paris Saint-Germain, Saliba had plenty of leverage to secure himself a significant pay rise.
Happy to tie down a pillar of his defence, Mikel Arteta said: “To have William extend his contract with us was something we have wanted to do for a long time. William proved last season just how good and how important he is to our squad.
“The ability he has at his young age of just 22 is exciting, and there is of course so much more room for development with any player at this stage of their career. We’re looking forward to continuing to work with William in the years to come.”
In addition to signing a new deal, Saliba has also been handed the number 2 squad number.
Remember when people said we signed the wrong St Etienne centre back?
That aged badly.
Who was the other guy?
Fofana
Pascal Chimbonda.
Jeff Blockley. 😂
Ian Ure
What a Man that Ure was!
😂 😂
We signed him a week after he’d scored a stupid own goal. Should have been called Jeff Ley because he couldn’t block anything.
And four days after we signed him Alf Ramsey – who, being the Spud that he was, NEVER picked Arsenal players to represent England – gave Blockley what would turn out to be his only England cap. Then he screwed up our chances of making the FA Cup Final in our semi final defeat to Sunderland (I can still remember my late father’s rage when he arrived home) and that was that until Terry Mancini was signed and a young kid named O’Leary broke into the side. Still, they’ve all done it. Bertie Mee made to look foolish by Blockley;… Read more »
Matthieu Debuchy?
Say what you like about Peter Kay but his clearance was superb.
https://youtu.be/lHo1hdxF6FE
Remember when people said Arsenal had mishandled him, and he should be with the first team instead of developing out on loan? That aged badly, too.
Willy and Bukayo our biggest signings of the summer!
£300m of talent right there.
And only cost us £28m.
If at any point we have martinelli on the left, Saka on the right, Eddie through the middle and ESR sitting behind – that entire quartet cost £1.5m more than what spurs paid for Pascal Chimbonda
Martinelli cost £6m, no?
Yes
Which will be the immediate come-back to anyone who now accuses us of buying our future success.
Very happy to see Gabriel has finally signed that thing. Yes I said W. Gabriel S.
This morning I was looking through the squad on some website and found some dude called Jorge Luiz Frello Filho and I wondered if we have a new unannounced signing. It took me going on Google then saw his picture.
I felt less of a fan after seeing his picture
Can’t have enough Gabis
These Gabs are real gifts
Fcuking OOOOOSSSHHHHHH!!!
A longer Willy. Just what we needed.
Alright. This is as good as any news so far this summer. Honestly, I was critical of Saliba’s handling and said only this moment would allay concerns. There it is. Time to eat crow. Well done Arteta and Edu. Maybe if we played him the year before we might have been better earlier, but it doesn’t matter now. He’s an absolute superstar defender…AND HE’S OURS!! Could be a top 5 defender in world football (if he’s not already…).
I’m not sure if it is correct but I’ve seen mentioned elsewhere that WS lost one or even both of his parents shortly after joining us – compound this with the covid situation and his tender age and I think you’ll begin to appreciate why allowing him back to France made sense.. I’m not sure if the above is legit – but if so it makes a lot of sense in the way that we handled it
WS: “Arteta looked at me in training for 5 minutes and said you’re not ready, you need to go on loan”.
Also, Arteta was asked if he had talked to Saliba after his first selection in the best national team in the world. Arteta responded “not personally but we monitor players on loan regularly”
Saliba developed very well and Arteta as a very good manager changed his mind and this confirm his indeed a very good manager, punto final.
I am elated about this news but can’t help getting facts straight.
I can’t speak for whether it is fact as I don’t know… but
https://tribuna.com/amp/en/news/arsenal-2020-11-13-william-saliba-has-recently-lost-both-his-parents-and-was-heavily-affected-emotionally-ki/
Or you could just admit you may’ve been wrong.
Truth is no one outside of the club actually knows the details of what happened & those 2 quotes don’t actually prove anything you’ve said is a fact.
What we do know is that we bought him for a bargain, he went out on loan & did really well, then he was brought back & did brilliantly & now he’scommitted his future to the club. That’s enough for me
Proper player. He’s our best defender since Kos.
Gabriel is better than Koscielny
Hopefully he’ll never pull any dumb shirt changing stunts like the one Koscielny did.
I think he has the potential to be our best central defender ever. Not claiming he’s there yet or that it’s a sure thing. Not claiming he will ever be a leader like Adams. What I see is an already elite defender (yes, with rough spots and mistakes) at a very young age for that position, and a player with unusual size, tremendous pace, and first-rate positional intelligence and decision-making (when he gets this wrong–as all defenders, especially young ones, occasionally do–it stands out for being rare). How many centre-halves in the word would I want to start an important… Read more »
in the world
100% has that potential – and I would go a step further and say he’s already there. Had he not got injured I believe we’d have won the league – I’ve said this before and GJ said the same thing to the press this week. I am old enough to remember our impenetrable defences – as a collective of adams keown Dixon winterburn and seaman they were second to none – but that was a different era – and in-terms of the modern demands I think saliba, Gabriel, white, Timber, Ramsdale et al can surpass the benchmark and set a… Read more »
Keeping our talent is as essential as signings, this is a big win for us. So excited for the new season
Pheeew…
The club must feel relieved.
Imagine losing your willy after a great performance. 🤗
Excellent news. Hope he stays for the full term but if not, at least he won’t go cheap!
This is as big a deal as any of our signings. The best young players in the world want to be at Arsenal
Get in there boy!
Saliba, Saka and Martinelli signing new contracts is the most important news of the summer.
Odegaard will be next hopefully.
Young players who are nowhere near their peak – so important to retain your best players.
Oh boy, great news day after day. The transfer window (plus players extending their contracts) is crazy the last couple of weeks. Can’t help but get more and more excided for the new season.
I must admit, I wasn’t feeling very confident when KSE took over but they’re doing their job it seems.
Big Willy extends! As Arsenal secure rearguard…
I was going to with Big Willy Pimpin’ but I think your one’s better 😂
A very pointed message to the wafflers and neurotic types who doubted his commitment to his own development and to Arsenal. Nicely done!
#2 can’t wait to see our large right back in action ❤️
Yeh, I really couldn’t care less but it certainly fucks with your feng shui.
really cool! Mbappe next 😉
no thanks to that disaster of a person. great player, but what a disruption he is to any dressing room.
I personally believe people have jumped into WRONG conclusions about Kylian Mbappe… we don’t know what happens behind the scenes, and many people jump on what the media reports — which MANY times is blown out of proportion.
he’s always in the press, always angling for a move, always making it about him. wouldn’t fit into the team mentality we are building and he’d be at loggerheads with arteta every week. we’d have to hire at least one coach just to calm the guy down. not worth the effort.
we’d be better off signing marcus rashford on $375k a week.
Jeez! Mbappe “disaster of a person”, what did he do wrong? What are the examples? Ronaldo even Messi were more of a problem than him. Messi did not want Griezmann, made his life miserable on the pitch and in the dressing room. KDB told Guardiola “shut up there”
Mbappe is one of the nicest ballon d’or type players in the history of the game.
When I say disaster I am implying the impact he’d have on the harmony we are building in the squad. He’d wreck the wage structure and make demands of ownership and management. Do you think arteta (or any manager) can stand up to a 200m transfer fee and half a million a week (plus endorsement deals)? Mbappe and his people know this.
Agreed. You simply cannot judge a player’s attitude or general personality by what happens at PSG.
Just an aside related to your comment: In the last World Cup, Griezmann showed he is one the very best players in the world (at least until he was finally exhausted in the final) and central to every match he played. Simply brilliant, and in a new role. The way he was completely peripheral at Barca proves your point–Messi (like Ronaldo) was willing and able to affect the on-pitch prospects of his team to satisfy his ego.
Big wilo signs, Big smiles all around.
This is proof Saliba realises that Arteta managed his integration properly. Time for all the naysayers – like in the case of Martinelli- to acknowledge their folly.
This is the most important deal of the summer, even over the Saka extension. That’s how highly I rate this player. I give him the nod over Bukayo because of the position he plays. As good and as important as Saka is to the team, his influence on the overall control of the game isn’t as high because of the more advanced positioning. Saka will see 40-60 touches on average while Wilo may see 80-100 or more. It’s crucial that those touches are consequential. We’ve seen wingers and even midfielders flourish in their early 20s, but how many center backs… Read more »
Phenomenally well-written. Thank you for your comment.
The push for versatility is clearly important when you consider what one gap in your back line can do. Hoping next season shows how rotation can be successfully implemented to create competition on all fronts. I’m so buoyed by this news, and I feel like your comment added to that buzz!
This is the reason I check in here. You simply dont find comments like these so easily. Clearly Dr.Gooner has a really good understanding of this beautiful game
Phew……..🙏🏻
He was one of the main reasons we were in with a shout of the title (for me, his absence was why we ultimately finished 2nd) – and he can be the catalyst for another title tilt again next season.
Wonderful news.
just saying it cause it’s the second article you’ve mentioned it: saliba won the young player of the year award in france, not the player of the season. that award went to mbappe, of course. still a nice achievement tho!
TEQUILA!!
Best signing this window.. And that’s saying something!!
Now I’ll have to buy a shirt this year after all.