Arsenal have reportedly agreed on personal terms with St Etienne defender William Saliba making him the first signing for the Gunners this summer – as per reports.
Unai Emery is planning a major overhaul in defence for the 2018-19 season and it has been reported that Shkodran Mustafi will leave the club this summer.
Mustafi has been a fine servant to the club but last season, the centre-back had a very mediocre time which has convinced Emery to dispose of him.
And now that William Saliba is on the verge of joining Arsenal(at the time of writing this article) many believe that the 18-year-old is set to become the long-term replacement for Mustafi.
Sadly though that might not be the case as the centre-back is expected to be loaned back to St Etienne for the 2019-20 season.
As per reports, the Gunners are paying 30 million euros for William Saliba but will not see the player for the whole of next season.
St Étienne will only accept the sale of William Saliba if they receive an offer worth €30m + the player returns to them on loan for 2019/20, according to @ManuLonjon. https://t.co/ogbrmEXEND
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) June 17, 2019
And many experts believe that the ominous presence of Manchester City might just have forced Unai Emery to make a bad call.
City have been linked with Saliba for a couple of weeks now and it is being reported that Arsenal had to move swiftly in order to keep the Premier League champions from signing the youngster.
This summer, Emery only has around 50 million euros to spend and using most of that money to sign a player who will not likely play for the Gunners next season is a rather foolish idea.
William Saliba is no doubt a highly rated defender but the need of the hour for Arsenal is to get back into the Champions League.
And for that to happen, Unai Emery needs to sign players whom he can atleast put to use during the upcoming season.
