Arsenal: William Saliba mess becoming a festering wound

Arsenal have reportedly submitted a £27m bid to secure William Saliba. Not only is the price too steep, but the accompanying terms are just ridiculous.

The amount of deals that Arsenal need to get done this summer seem to be increasing, though I’m not sure how. But starting with the defense won’t get any complaints from fans. Which is why developments in the William Saliba transfer saga should be viewed positively, because it feels like things are actually happening.

But the developments, despite a deal being neared, aren’t positive. They aren’t good things.

The only good thing is that, according to the reports, the Gunners are closing in on a £27m deal for the young Frenchman’s services. Right off the bat, I don’t see why this price was so easy to agree to when you could get Joachim Andersen for cheaper, and Andersen has more experience.

Also, fun fact, we could actually have Joachim Andersen after we buy him. What a novel concept, right?

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With William Saliba, again, according to the report, we would have to loan him right back to Saint-Etienne for the year. Which defeats the whole fricking purpose. When this clause first came up, it was in relation to Manchester City and, while I was bummed to see that the deal had derailed, it would rather have that then what we are supposedly still pursuing – a purchase without necessarily getting the player.

If it was half the price, then sure. Invest in the future and all that jazz. but we’re spending well over half of our allotted funds on a player that we can’t even utilize right away? That’s dumb. It’s pointless. It can and should be avoided. We need players now, not next year. We’ll worry about what we need next year next year.

These updates are and aren’t going in the right direction, simultaneously. It seems like Saint-Etienne are calling all the shots, we have no say in the matter, and screw everything, we have to have William Saliba, even if we can’t actually have him.

It feels desperate. And that doesn’t make sense to me. Do we actually have that £27m? Because that seemed to be a fee we couldn’t stump up for other players.

This all just feels wrong, like a festering wound that doesn’t heal. We can’t be expected to wait on a player we are spending so much money on. It doesn’t work like that.