Arsenal have reportedly agreed on a deal to sign 18-year-old French centre-back William Saliba.
William Saliba currently plays for Ligue 1 side St Etienne and during the 2018-19 season, the centre-back managed to play in only 16 league games for the French side.
But despite making limited appearances, the youngster has caught the attention of a number of top European clubs and at one point it was being believed that Spurs were actually close to signing the defender.
Multiple reports had claimed that Mauricio Pochettino was on the verge of signing William Saliba but clearly the Gunners have beaten them to the race.
And now Sky Sports are reporting that Arsenal have agreed on a deal to sign William Saliba.
The report suggests: “Arsenal have reached an agreement in principle with Saint-Etienne to sign defender William Saliba, Sky Sports News understands.
“The deal will see Saliba return to the Ligue 1 side on loan next season.”
This is without a doubt a great signing for the Gunners and the transfer fee is expected to be in the region of £27 Million.
Some fans have voiced their concerns regarding the fact that Emery has chosen to spend such a huge chunk of money on a player who will be loaned out next season and to a certain extent they are right.
It has been well publicised that Arsenal only have about £45 million to spend this summer and to use a big part of it to sign William Saliba might not look very pleasing to the eye.
But William Saliba is obviously very highly rated in the French footballing circuit with journalist Mohamed Bouhafsi even going as far as comparing him to Kylian Mbappe.
“He is the only player in the French set-up who is in the age class two times higher than a player would typically be. He’s the first player to be in this situation since Kylian Mbappé,” said Head of Football at RMC Sport, Mohamed Bouhafsi to GFFN.
