Arsenal
Player wants to join Arsenal after Gunners match Tottenham’s £27m offer
William Saliba wants to join Arsenal over Tottenham after the Gunners matched their north London rivals’ £27m offer for the Saint-Etienne centre-back
Managers are working hard trying to strengthen their squads during the summer transfer window so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip from around the globe. Here, William Saliba favours a move to Arsenal over Tottenham…
William Saliba wants to join Arsenal over Tottenham after the Gunners matched their north London rivals’ £27m offer for the Saint-Etienne centre-back, according to reports via the Daily Star.
Saliba has become one of this summers most in-demand players after putting in a string of impressive performances for Saint-Etienne last season following a breakthrough campaign in Ligue 1.
The 18-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to the Premier League with Arsenal initially leading the chase after submitting an offer worth £27m [€30m] including performance related bonuses in a deal that would also see Saliba stay on loan with Saint-Etienne next season.
Tottenham then moved into pole position to sign the highly-rated centre-back last week after hijacking Arsenal’s deal by tabling an improved offer worth £27m excluding any bonuses while they also agreed to loan the youngster back to the French club.
However, RMC Sport claims Arsenal have now responded by matching Tottenham’s offer and Saint-Etienne are now hoping to play the two clubs off against each other to raise the price even further.
The French outfit will also take into consideration Saliba’s wishes and the Daily Star are citing Yahoo Sport journalist Manu Lonjon as claiming the defender favours a move to Arsenal over Spurs.
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This claim is supported by Spanish journalist Kike Marin as he also says Saliba’s preference is Arsenal but suggests Saint-Etienne are the ones holding up the proposed deal. He tweeted:
“Saliba prefers #Arsenal for a long time! The problem is Saint Etienne…”
Unai Emery is desperately trying to strengthen his squad this summer with the Arsenal boss reportedly in the market for a full-back, at least one centre-back, midfielder and winger but he’s working on a tight budget after missing out on the Champions League.
Mauricio Pochettino is also on the look out for defensive reinforcements as Toby Alderweireld is set to leave the club and it looks like Spurs are going head-to-head with Arsenal over a deal for Saliba.
READ –> Arsenal transfer news | Spurs transfer news
The French youth international would be a long-term project for either club as he’ll spend next season on loan with Saint-Etienne no matter who wins the race for his signature but it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming days.
