ARSENAL have given in to William Saliba’s demands to agree a new long-term contract with the French international defender.
The final details of the deal are still being worked out but the club are now confident of the 22-year-old centre-half putting pen to paper in the next few weeks.
And that comes as a massive relief to manager Mikel Arteta, who was desperate to avoid any uncertainty dragging into the new season.
It is understood that the contract, which will run to 2027 with the possibility of an option for a further 12 months, will be worth around £200,000-per-week.
That is considerably more than Arsenal were hoping to pay Saliba, whose current salary is only £40,000-a-week.
SunSport exclusively reported last month how Arsenal were in shock at his demands.
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But with only 12 months remaining on his current contract and French Champions Paris St. Germain closely monitoring the situation, Saliba’s advisors always had the upper hand in negotiations.
Arteta made it absolutely clear that the player was central to all of his long-term plans and must be kept at any cost.
And that has resulted in the club more or less agreeing to pay the player whatever he wanted to secure his long-term future.
Saliba is currently recovering from the back injury which ruled him out of Arsenal’s final 11 games of the season and has not been included in the French squad for their forthcoming Euro qualifiers against Gibraltar and Greece.
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But it is hoped he will be fit enough to take part in next month’s pre-season tour of the USA and the aim is to have the contract signed before they cross the Atlantic.
Saliba, a £27million signing from St.Etienne in 2017, becomes the fourth key Arsenal player this year to agree a new long-term contract, following on from Gabriel Martinelli, Aaron Ramsdale and Bukayo Saka.
The club are also putting the final touches to a new deal for Reiss Nelson, who is out of contract at the end of this month but is now set to stay at the Emirates.
Arteta wants to get his squad sorted as quickly as possible this summer ahead of the club’s long-awaited return to the Champions League.
They are ready to open the bidding for West Ham skipper Declan Rice with an offer in the region of a club record £90million and are also looking to further strengthen in midfield and in defence.
Fans have taken to social media to express their delight at the news.
One said: ” We are cooking!!”
Another replied: “Great deal. He will dominate the league for years to come.”
A third added: ” Best news I’ve heard this week.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
