William Saliba is reportedly willing to make a huge financial sacrifice to secure a January transfer away from Arsenal.
The Gunners paid £27million for the centre-back in 2019 before loaning him back to Saint Etienne for the season.
But injuries and the coronavirus pandemic ending the Ligue 1 campaign early meant Saliba played only 12 times last season.
Mikel Arteta assessed the defender’s progress in the summer and decided he is not yet at the level to represent Arsenal in the Premier League.
Arteta subsequently left Saliba out of his 25-man squad, meaning the defender has only been able to play in reserve matches.
Saliba wants regular first team football and is itching to leave Arsenal on loan in the January transfer window.
a man wearing a uniform: William Saliba is reportedly willing to make a huge financial sacrifice© Arsenal FC via Getty Images William Saliba is reportedly willing to make a huge financial sacrifice
His former club Saint Etienne have already been linked with his signature, but the centre-back’s new wages are a real problem.
As things stand, the Ligue 1 outfit are unable to afford Saliba, but Canal Plus, via Foot-sur7, claims Saliba is so desperate to leave on loan he is willing to sacrifice as much as £90,000 a week to make the transfer happen.
Arteta has previously hinted that Saliba could leave Arsenal on loan in January.
He has made it clear he wants the Frenchman to experience a transition year so that he is ready to make the step up to the Premier League.
Speaking in November, Arteta said: “I’m fed up with the situation because, as you could see, we tried to find a way in the last few days to give him some football.
“I explained that he needed that transition year when we decided to buy him and send him on loan to Saint-Etienne. For many reasons, that didn’t happen – he didn’t have that transition year and he needs to go through that.
“At the moment, with the amount of central defenders we have in the team, we had to leave him out of the squad, which is painful. Now we have some injuries and we could have used him but this is part of the profession.”
