The future of William Saliba will dictate what defensive reinforcements Arsenal bring in this summer.
We are looking at recruiting either a right back or central defender this summer.
The focus seems to be on a new right back – Ivan Fresneda and Sacha Boey the two most regularly linked.
I do not expect either of these two come straight into our first XI. But what both do is reinforce that right hand side.
We stumbled towards the end of this season because of both Saliba and Tomiyasu being out injured. The plan would have been to have White drop inside if Saliba was unavailable, and Tomiyasu playing right back. No-one had planned for both Saliba and Tomiyasu to be injured.
Signing either Fresneda or Boey gives us that extra right back. This free’s up Ben White to play centre back if Saliba is out injured – with Takehiro Tomiyasu replacing Kieran Tierney as the back up left back.
The squad would then look something like this:
Right backs: White, Tomiyasu, Fresneda/Boey, Walters
Centre backs: Saliba, Gabriel, White, Kiwior, Tomiyasu
Left backs: Zinchenko, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Sousa
Plenty of cover, with versatile players filling in where needed – not too unsimilar to Manchester City who have played John Stones at right back and Nathan ake at left back at times during this season (or is it now last season?)
Saliba’s contract is the issue…
If the Frenchman fails to agree a new deal, he will surely be sold this summer. His contract runs out in 2025.
And if Saliba leaves, this could completely change Arsenal’s defensive transfer plans.
Rather than buy a right back, a centre back becomes more essential. We will need to go out into the market and buy a like for like replacement for Saliba.
It would be very surprising if Rob Holding does not depart this summer. That leaves us with 3 specialist centre backs – Saliba, Gabriel and Kiwior – with White as 4th choice and Tomiyasu 5th.
If Saliba goes, we only have 2 specialist central defenders – Gabriel and Kiwior.
It is clear and obvious that someone will need to replace Saliba. And that someone will cost us a lot of money. Money which would hopefully come from the sale of Saliba.
But if the Saliba fee does not cover the recruitment of his replacement, money will have to be taken out of another pot – likely that put aside for a new right back.
This leaves us in a situation where we can not recruit a new right back until the Saliba situation is sorted.
Once Saliba signs on, we can go ahead and sign the extra full-back knowing that we do not need to spend any more money on the defence.
Likewise, if Saliba is sold, we can move on with our plans to sign a replacement.
There is the option of White being the like for like replacement for Saliba, and then a new right back comes in to cover & compete with Tomiyasu.
This could be the “easy option” for the club as it will allow them to continue with their current recruitment process (signing Fresneda or Boey), and White becoming a central defender who can play right back, rather than a right back that can play centre back.
The issue with this is Fresneda is still unexperienced, and Boey will be facing a huge step up from the Turkish League to the Premier League.
If White is to replace Saliba, we might be forced to look at a more experienced right back – Joao Cancelo for example.
White replacing Saliba also puts us back in the situation of only having 3 front line central defenders (assuming Rob Holding also leaves).
We would be going from White being 4th choice and Tomiyasu 5th choice, to White being 1st choice and Tomiyasu being 4th choice. That lack of depth would worry.
So even if White replaces Saliba, we would still need to go out and buy a new central defender. And this could impact what we spend on a new right back.
The hope is the Saliba contract will be signed before the end of this month, and we can then go ahead with our original plans of reinforcing the defence.
If the stand-off rolls into July, it risks delaying the addition of defensive reinforcements.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
I would like to make sense for the people that help Saliba to make decisions. He had 2 great seasons back to back to 2 different leagues. He himself knows his potential is to be the world’s best CB. No denying that. He is still very young and got another 10 years at the absolute top level. Arteta was responsible for his current maturity and performance. Making money as much as you can as a pro footballer shouldn’t be frowned at either. But I don’t see any other club or manager that can propel him into the sky besides the current ones.
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Agree! And the important thing you said is his age. He is still just 22.
If he is sensible, he would follow Saka and sign a new deal. And then if Arsenal do not progress over the next 2 years and match his ambition, he can then push for a move.
He will be 24 then, so will have plenty of time to go to Madrid, City, etc and win countless trophies without having to work hard.
I think the worry this summer is PSG. They are looking to recruit younger, French players and Saliba is on their radar. I would feel Saliba going to PSG shows he lacks ambition.
Yes, he will win trophies, but who cares as they are in France (no one really cares what Neymar has won with PSG). It will be the easy option and show he is driven by money rather than challenging himself playing for a top team in a top league.
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