Cheers, the link didn't work for me for some reason.

We've blocked him from playing in the french cup final apparently

Dick move if true, and bound to have come from upstairs since Arteta specifically said in his press conference today that Saliba had earned the right to play in that cup final and would be allowed to do it.

How much extra would we have to pay again if he played?

2.5m i believe

Sounds like a purely financial decision, but signs that arteta wasnt kept in the loop given what he said in the last 24 hours, or 8 dimensional chess move to make it look like it was out of his hands

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

How much extra would we have to pay again if he played?

No idea, but it's probably much less than we've paid for the pleasure of having Soares so far.

More importantly, if Saliba is someone we foresee will be here for the next decade then I don't understand why we're screwing him on this. A cup final would be the biggest thing that has ever happened to him. How would you feel if Arsenal denied you that moment, just because they've realised they might save a buck through some clause that would hundred percent have been activated either way if you hadn't broken your foot?

Just treat the kid right. Let him play the cup final and come back to London happy. It'll be better for him and it'll be better for us in the long run.

Not to mention the experience he would gain from playing in a final

The management can STFU about doing things the Arsenal way if they prevent him from playing.

Edit: OTOH if it's ASSE wanting us to let him play AND pay them 2.5m for the privilege, they can F off.

If Sainte really ask for 2.5m to let him play then they can get fucked. He starts for them it's their biggest game in decades and they try to guilt us into paying that kind of money then his anger should be directed squarely at them

I am backing our board for this. We give them a courtesy to let him play for free and they demand 2.5m? Fuck off

Yeah, I’m all for doing the right thing but they can get stuffed if they want us to pay £2.5m to do them a favour.

what is their argument for the £2.5mil? Surely they should be paying us

Exactly, Shady. Massive WTF.

He has a clause where if he started 17 games this season,  we'd pay an extra 2.5m. He's currently on 16 appearances,  hence arsenal are playing hardball

I can see both sides of the arguement. Its a shit note for him to start his arsenal career on, but paying an extra 2.5m to allow him to play in a game he might get hurt in doesn't sound like good business either. We already paid for the player, and agreed to loan him for 12 months. St etienne got a pretty sweet deal all in all

They'll probably come to an agreement that he plays but we don't pay. It makes the most sense for everyone.

Yeah I mean it would be pretty stupid of us to agree to pay to let him play for them.

speedy wrote:

They'll probably come to an agreement that he plays but we don't pay. It makes the most sense for everyone.

That's what I'm thinking. The way I see it if we didn't deny them there were three possible scenarios:

1. They play their best CB in the final and we pay them.
2. They play their best CB in their final and we don't pay them. 
3. They don't play their best CB in the final.

If Arsenal have said "Look, option 1 is off the table, the rest is up to you" then they have no reason not to play him, and Arsenal's people know this. 

The way both clubs have torn into each other I don’t think there will be a resolution. Arsenal saying they refused to agree to our training regime while also saying that we refused to be financially disadvantaged.

Didn't read Arsenal's statement about the training regime until now. Yeah, doesn't look like there will be a resolution. Wonder what the details were, but we'll probably never know.