Romano reveals three clubs who wanted to sign €80m-rated Arsenal star amid contract rumours | OneFootball

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims that three clubs wanted to sign Arsenal defender William Saliba in the summer.

The France international had a brilliant season on loan at Marseille last term with Saliba earning the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award.

He was also rewarded with his first caps for France and he has now become a vital member of Mikel Arteta’s starting XI this term.

Saliba has played all of the Gunners’ eight Premier League matches this campaign with Arsenal top of the table after beating Tottenham 3-1 in the north London derby on Saturday.

The centre-back has contributed two goals and one assist this season and helped Arsenal concede just eight goals in his eight appearances.

There were doubts over whether Saliba would be staying at Arsenal over the summer with concerns over whether he would be involved in the starting line-up.

That led to rumours that he could leave the Emirates Stadium with Romano now revealing the three clubs who were seriously interested in signing him.

Romano told Caught Offside: “It’s important to give credit to William Saliba – what a season he’s having. He’s been incredible with Arsenal, and is surely one of the best-performing centre-backs of the 2022/23 season.

“He’s something special – I’m convinced he can be one of the best defenders in the world for the next few years. Some fans might not be that interested in following Ligue 1, but last season at Marseille he was also incredible, he was their best player, and the fact that they’re in the Champions League this season is thanks to him.

“Arsenal paid €30m for him when he was 19 – other clubs were interested, but Arsenal decided to invest big money in him, even though he would need time to be ready for Premier League level.

“Now it looks like a great price, because his value has probably has gone as high as €60-70m or even €80m – not that I think Arsenal would be too happy to sell even for that price.

“In the summer, Marseille wanted to try something special for Saliba. He was very happy on loan at Marseille, and there was a meeting with his agent, but for Arsenal there was no chance of a discussion – he was considered untouchable. Saliba was happy with this stance, as he could see he was a key part of the Arsenal project.

“There were other clubs interested – I can mention AC Milan, who looked at Saliba as an alternative to Sven Botman. There were never negotiations, they knew he was untouchable to Arsenal. Barcelona also considered Saliba – he was an alternative in case they could not complete the Jules Kounde deal.

“Kounde was the priority for Barca, but Saliba was also on their list and they were prepared to make a proposal in case they never managed to sign Kounde.

“Still, they got their man and so they never made a formal approach for Saliba. In any case, I still don’t think there was a chance that Arsenal would let him go.”