William Saliba’s journey in the Premier League has not been easy, but before that he has had several top clubs pursuing him.
Arsenal watched Saliba’s progress for several years before they bought him in 2019, then let him stay at Saint-Etienne on loan. But they are not alone when Manchester United also want to recruit the defender. However, Saliba already knew where his heart was headed when approached by the Reds. Naturally, the young centre-back was excited to be noticed by such a big club, but that changed when Arsenal expressed their interest.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer selected Saliba as one of his priority signings when he took the job at Man United in December 2018. The newspaper confirmed that Man United had approached St Etienne to sign a contract. with the teen player in January 2019. They even offered “very lucrative” personal terms to Saliba for him to agree to sign with the Red Devils.
However, Saliba turned down this opportunity for three reasons.
First of all, Arsenal spoke to him more than a month earlier. Second, Saliba feels his first-team prospects are more promising than at Emirates. Third, Saliba supported Arsenal as a boy and wanted to join his boyhood team more than any other. Saliba has supported the Gunners since he was a young man, it is a club that has always had close ties to the Frenchman thanks to manager Arsene Wenger and superstar players Thierry Henry and Robert Pires.
And while United came and failed, then there was also a belated attempt from Tottenham to try and snatch him away from the Emirates. But Spurs learned early on that their chances of signing Saliba were close to zero.
However, things were not easy for the young player when he turned down many great opportunities to come to Arsenal. Arteta has dropped Saliba from the European squad after he returned to the club in 2020 from loan at Saint-Etienne.
It led to another loan spell, this time at Nice before they sent him to Marseille, where he became a favorite. The French club are trying to keep the defender with former Gunners star Matteo Guendouzi trying to lure him in.
Finally, his dream of playing for Arsenal came true – and it went beyond all expectations. Now, Saliba is arguably the club’s best defender, being compared to Raphael Varane and Virgil van Dijk.
After closing a long-term deal with the France international this summer, Arsenal have indeed secured a big player wearing the number 4 shirt and Premier League strikers know it will be a hard-to-break defense.