This France international player impressed at Marseille on loan last season and it is clear that he has a bright future in the game. He established himself as one Arsenal’s most valuable players since his return to the Emirates Stadium this year. Romano from
has explained how much Saliba now is worth. The Gunners paid EUR30million for Saliba a few years back, but it is highly likely that he is worth more than twice that amount now.
This transfer news guru explained that Marseille wanted to keep Saliba this summer while AC Milan and Barcelona also considered him to be an alternative to their other defensive targets.
He claims that Arsenal considered the 21-year old untouchable and was not available for sale at any cost.
: “In the summer Marseille wanted to do something special for Saliba. He was happy to be on loan at Marseille and had a meeting with his agent. But Arsenal was too untouchable to allow for a discussion. Romano explained that Saliba was pleased with his stance because he knew that he was an important part of the Arsenal project.
They knew that he was too difficult to sell Arsenal so there were no negotiations.
“Barcelona also considered Saliba – he was an option in case they couldn’t complete the Jules Kounde agreement. Barca prioritized Kounde, but Saliba was also on the list. They were willing to make a proposal in the event that they could not sign Kounde. They got their man, so they didn’t make a formal approach to Saliba.
2In any event, I don’t believe there was a chance Arsenal would let him leave.”
