Arsenal Transfer News: €29 million rated European prodigy rejects Tottenham for Gunners

Arsenal have won the race to sign William Saliba from Saint-Etienne. 

Arsenal are on the verge of landing William Saliba from Saint-Etienne. The French International will sign a new five-year contract, but will be loaned back for the 2019/20 season.

The 18-year-old becomes the second addition of the summer transfer window, following Gabriel Martinelli to the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners have managed to land a much-needed centre-back, but they will have to find a way to deal without him in the upcoming season.

Mohamed Bouhafsi, who works for RMC Sport, confirmed that William Saliba will join Arsenal ahead of their rivals Tottenham Hotspur. The Saint-Etienne defender attracted interest from Mauricio Pochettino too, but Arsenal have concluded a €29 million deal. The players’ entourage was to join the Gunners over the Champions League runners-up.

The young defender produced plenty of excellent displays in a breakthrough season, going on to make 19 appearances. In order to groom him for the demands of the Premier League, Emery loans him back to his former club, demanding him to come back with healthy top-flight experience.

Laurent Koscielny has stated his departure intentions to the club after spurning pre-season tour to the United States. The Spaniard has only Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Rob Holding, and Konstantinos Mavropanos at disposal as he seeks to sell Shkodran Mustafi and Callum Chambers this summer.

The Gunners are also in talks with Real Madrid over a loan deal for Dani Ceballos. Reports stated that the Spaniard has decided to join the Europa League runners-up because of the game time. Arsenal accepted to sign him because of the nil automatic selling clause next summer after a loan deal.

Celtic have turned down two bids from Arsenal for Kieran Tierney. Left-back is a susceptible position after Sead Kolasinac’s second-rate performances last campaign. The club is hoping to sign him before the transfer window culmination.

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What’s next?

This news will come as a sweetener to the Arsenal fans, who were starving for a new centre-back.