William Saliba from St Etienne

Ray

Yep, pay them the £25m. Saliba, Bielik, Holding, Kos, Sokratis as CB options next season. Loan out Mavropanos sell Mustafi and Chambers.

Ricky1985

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Just get this done

The more I read and see of this guy, the more excited I am at the prospect of signing him. Statistically speaking he's a freak for his age.

Coombs

That says we'd be loaning him back next season.

Claudius

Saliba is exactly the kind of signing we have to make. Whether he was on Sven on StatDNA’s list, it’s promising. We need to bring in more like this. I’m loving his strength and speed, and especially his composure when tackling and getting away from
His man with the ball at his feet after completing the tackle. Decent passing range as well. This guy, Holding, Sokratis, Koscielny and Mav should be okay if Holding is healthy soon.

Gazza M

alot of talk on him being loaned back to st stienne for 1 more season. if he is legitimately the next varane as alleged, and this is the only way to get the deal done before his price jumps over the next 12 months, would you do it?

Ricky1985

Of course, but I hope it doesn't come to that.

Claudius

Yeah. I would.
Hopefully, we can still find money for this season from selling the high cost low impact players to solve immediate needs. We need to build for present and future needs. I’d rather pay £18m now to St Etienne than £35m in 2 seasons to Aulas. We need to get the balance right between how much we spend on those prospects versus the immediate impact guys.

Asterix

This is looking less houseboat by the minute - a new thread is probably justified.

Asterix

https://arseblog.news/2019/06/lequipe-william-saliba-agrees-five-year-contract-with-arsenal/

A few sources claiming personal terms are agreed.

HomeSteak

Yep, not looking like houseboat:

L'Équipe confirm a deal is OK with Saliba:

https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Transferts-william-saliba-asse-se-rapproche-d-arsenal/1030766

Bilel Ghazi(from L'Équipe ): Saliba is close to sign for Arsenal, the idea is a transfer with a loan to his training club next season.

Saliba and arsenal have agreed terms for a 5 years contract, now a fee has to agreed with saint Étienne (source : footmercato, pretty good usually)

It will still suck if we have to loan him back.

Anzac

On the other hand it's not like we are short of numbers as options at CB - Kos, Sokratis, Mustafi, Holding, Chambers, Mavropanos, Bielik = 7 senior squad CBs is about 2-3 surplus depending on if playing a back4 or 3.

goon

Yep.

Let him go on loan, it's probably best for him and us in the long term unless he's 100% going to be a starter, at 18 with half a season of experience I'm not sure that would be wise. Use this season to let the likes of Holding and Beilik fight it out. Sell hambers, Mustafi and Kos (if we want's to leave) to fund a second centre back who can come in this season.

New guy (Anderson?)
Sokratis
Holding
Beilik
Saliba (loan)
Mavropanos (loan)

In a year we'll know if Beilik and the two loanees are up to scratch and replace whoever hasn't performed this season.

Klaus

Gazza M wrote:
alot of talk on him being loaned back to st stienne for 1 more season. if he is legitimately the next varane as alleged, and this is the only way to get the deal done before his price jumps over the next 12 months, would you do it?

Absolutely, but it would mean we'd have to sign two centrebacks this window,

goon

I've merged the discussion from houseboat, hence why everything looks a mess. Deal with it.

jones

I think Bielik deserves a shot first next season. Had a more than solid season at Charlton from all accounts and he actually was a first team player in Poland before moving here. If Holding or Mavropanos can get minutes so should he

Ricky1985

Mavropanos, sure, but Holding has had two good spells already at Arsenal, and was hands down our best defender by the time he got injured last December. Bielik has done zilch for the first team. Wenger clearly didn't think he was ready, and he has had a very hard few years learning to play as a centreback. Which makes the loan move to Charlton and playing centre midfield all season a bit baffling.

Gazza M

Klaus wrote:
Gazza M wrote:
alot of talk on him being loaned back to st stienne for 1 more season. if he is legitimately the next varane as alleged, and this is the only way to get the deal done before his price jumps over the next 12 months, would you do it?

Absolutely, but it would mean we'd have to sign two centrebacks this window,

We'd have to structure a deal that means we pay the bulk next summer, so we can still afford the defenders we need now

Ricky1985

I would only loan him if it was the difference between us getting him or City/United. He would be much better off marking Lacazette and Aubameyang in training and getting a taste of the Premier League, even if he's not up to regular football. From what I've seen and read about him, I think he's more ready than most realise.

I'm hoping the stories emerging about the kid agreeing personal terms with Arsenal, is actually a case of Saint Etienne accepting they were going to have to sell and allowing the kid to talk to all the interested parties. If we have beat out City, United and whoever else, then that's a good sign. And if it has gone down like that, it should mean a agreeing a fee will be a formality because there must have been a basic agreement between the interested parties and Saint Etienne prior to them allowing clubs to present their case to Saliba. If they were adamant they wanted a loan they would have said so from the off.

jones

Ricky1985 wrote:
Mavropanos, sure, but Holding has had two good spells already at Arsenal, and was hands down our best defender by the time he got injured last December. Bielik has done zilch for the first team. Wenger clearly didn't think he was ready, and he has had a very hard few years learning to play as a centreback. Which makes the loan move to Charlton and playing centre midfield all season a bit baffling.

Holding didn't start out as a viable option immediately though is what I mean. He looked very shaky for ages but was given the benefit of the doubt and is now a reasonable option. Bielik since arriving at the club (more than a year prior to Holdings arrival) never got that chance, all I'm saying is I'd like to see what he can offer.

lorddulaarsenal

Be so nice to have someone of his profile at the club