According to CaughtOffside, European giants Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will come sniffing around for Arsenal’s William Saliba during the upcoming summer transfer window.
Arsenal had paid around €30 million to sign Saint-Étienne in 2020 and after spending loan spells in three different clubs, he finally joined the Gunners in 2022. Since then, the central defender has been one of the most consistent defenders for the club and this season, he has been one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
William Saliba along with Gabriel have let in just 28 league goals this season and his performances seem to have caught the interest of Bayern Munich and also Real Madrid.
However, signing him will not be a walk in the park because Saliba signed a contract extension last summer and his current market value is €80 million which is why the Gunners value him at around €100 million.
Should Madrid or Bayern pay such a premium fee for William Saliba?
Arsenal have been really patient with William Saliba and finally, Mikel Arteta is reaping dividends of his maturity and experience. This season, he has started each and every league game for the Gunners and the central defender has won more than 60% of his tackles.
He’s equally good in ground as well as aerial duels and he’s won close to 60% of contests in both departments. He also made 209 recovery runs which are perfectly complimented by 29 interceptions and four blocks.
Arsenal are well within their rights to ask for €100 million for the French international but we don’t think Real Madrid or Bayern Munich will be ready to pay such this amount.
Firstly, Bayern Munich are a club that hardly pay such a steep price for a single player and after signing Harry Kane last summer, we don’t think the club’s management will sanction another mega deal this time around. Their first priority is to bring in a new manager who will then decide how to reshape the squad so even if Bayern are serious about William Saliba, they will not have enough time to enter into proper negotiations.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, have the finances to meet Arsenal’s demand but signing a new central defender is not on their agenda in the summer. They already have three centre-backs in the form of Rudiger, Alaba and Eder Militao so it’s highly unlikely that Perez is going to spend money on William Saliba.
A team like Real Madrid are obviously looking to upgrade every time but signing a new midfielder and a right-back is going to be Ancelotti’s priority in the next couple of months.
Arsenal have spent a lot of money and time to shape the youngster so they will do everything they can to hold onto William Saliba and the Gunners do not have to hit the panic button right now because he still has three more years left on his contract.
