Arsenal agree terms with William Saliba over £23m transfer… but ‘may have to pay St Etienne extra £9m’ to get him this season
ARSENAL have won the race to sign St Etienne star William Saliba.
The highly-rated central defender is regarded as one of the best youngsters in Europe and his outstanding performances in Ligue 1 have put a host of clubs on alert.
Saliba has already agreed a five-year deal and will be the first addition in Unai Emery's second season in England.
At one point Arsenal were in danger of blowing the deal as the French side were prepared to do business, but wanted Saliba to stay another year on loan to continue his development.
Gunners boss Emery wanted him at the Emirates this season, but St Etienne look to have got their way and will hold on to the defender for another 12 months.
The Saliba deal marks a shift in emphasis in Arsenal's recruitment strategy, focusing on younger players.
Despite the arrivals of Matteo Guendouzi, Bernd Leno and Lucas Torreira, they added the experienced Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Stephan Lichtsteiner.
The Gunners want Celtic defender Kieran Tierney.
An initial bid of £15m was rejected by the Scottish giants, however the Premier League side's second offer of £17.5m is still way short of Celtic's £25m valuation.