William Saliba has revealed he has held talks about a new contract after insisting he is “so happy” at Arsenal.
Gunners defender Saliba, 21, joined Arsenal in a £30m move from St Etienne in 2019 but spent his first three seasons out on loan. Now the France international has just over 18 months on his current deal and has been in no rush to commit himself to a fresh, long-term contract.
Europe’s top clubs are already circling as the classy centre half has been exceptional for Arsenal since coming back to the Emirates this season while he has also broken into the full France team ahead of the World Cup. When asked about his contract, Saliba said: “Yeah, we will see. They talk a little bit. We will see.”
Saliba had a difficult start to his Arsenal career, was made to wait before making it at the Emirates but it now looks clever man management from Mikel Arteta. Arsenal farmed him out on loan to Marseille, back to St Etienne and also to Nice but Saliba revealed that Arteta was determined to make him part of his plans this season.
Saliba said; “He (Arteta) talked about my last season and he explained the project for this season. The more we win, the more we are confident. We want every week to win, to win, to win - and that’s it. I had to wait a long time for my first north London derby.
"But I enjoyed it since the first minute to the end, and now I am so happy. Now we play against the best players in the world. It is good for young players like me, and I learn a lot.”
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Gunners keeper Aaron Ramsdale also praised Saliba and the way he has helped make the defence more solid. Ramsdale added: “He has fit in really well. It is a credit to him that he has been put straight into the team, he is a bit of a Rolls-Royce with the way he moves and he has never seemed fazed.
“He is still a young boy so still makes mistakes so at the minute it is either Ben (White), myself, Gabriel or Thomas Partey digging him out and he is digging other people out as well.
“That is the main thing at the minute, our mistakes aren't leading to too many things and that is the sign of a team with good characters in and around that back five.”
