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Why Arsenal need to extend William Saliba this offseason
By Adam Schultz
William Saliba showed he is every bit a world class defender this season and his absence for the title run-in only further illustrated Arsenal’s need to tie down the young Frenchman to fresh terms.
The ink is barely dry on Bukayo Saka’s shiny new contract, but Arsenal must act swiftly to secure the future of defender William Saliba with PSG circling.
The Frenchman had a debut season at Premier League level for the ages, adapting to anything and everything teams threw at him. Of course, there was the odd mishap, but for the most part, Saliba looked like the world-class defender many knew he had the talent to be.
When in the side, Arsenal’s defense was one of the best units in the Premier League. In 27 league games with Saliba in the side, Arsenal conceded just 25 goals and had 11 clean sheets.
That’ll work.
But when Saliba went down with a back injury that would ultimately end his season, the Gunners’ defense was a shell of itself.
In 11 games without the Frenchman, Arsenal conceded 18 goals and only managed two clean sheets. Is there a direct correlation between Saliba and how good Arsenal’s defense is?
Possibly, but it does confirm how needed the defender is in north London.
The 22-year-old is already in the upper echelon of defenders in world football, and he will only get better. While much of the talk this offseason was going to be around Saka signing on (thankfully, he has), the next order of business should be to tie Saliba down to a long-term contract.
🗣️| @JacobsBen on William Saliba and his contract at Arsenal:
— Arsenal Buzz (@ArsenalBuzzCom) June 4, 2023
“There remains high confidence at Arsenal that a deal will eventually get done because Saliba is settled at the club.” [@GiveMeSport] #afc pic.twitter.com/30p4uVlobI
There will be no shortage of suitors for his signature, and the fact Arsenal have managed to secure Champions League football next season likely helps their case to persuade the Frenchman to stay, but money talks.
After doing incredibly well in trimming the wage bill and installing a structure with no outlandish contracts, the time has come to make an exception.
Saka’s new deal reportedly will see him make around £200k a week, so we imagine Saliba could also fetch that kind of money, possibly more.
It shapes a big offseason for Arsenal, where securing Saliba’s long-term future should be high on the to-do list.