{"id":98636,"date":"2025-07-28T06:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T06:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/98636\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T06:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T06:01:12","slug":"arsenal-transfer-news-william-saliba-issues-contract-update-amid-real-madrid-links-to-mikel-artetas-prized-defender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/98636\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal transfer news: William Saliba issues contract update amid Real Madrid links to Mikel Arteta&#8217;s prized defender"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal face the prospect of centre-back William Saliba leaving the club for free in 2027, but the defender issues an update amid rumours.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/football\/arsenal\/\" title=\"More Arsenal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong class=\"autotag\">Arsenal<\/strong><\/a> defender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/people\/william-saliba\/\" title=\"More William Saliba\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong class=\"autotag\">William Saliba<\/strong><\/a> has claimed that he hopes to sign an extension with the club sooner rather than later amid links to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/football\/real-madrid\/\" title=\"More Real Madrid\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong class=\"autotag\">Real Madrid<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners managed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/football\/arsenal\/result\/dowman-too-hot-to-handle-as-arsenal-defeat-newcastle-in-five-goal-thriller_578098.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">beat Newcastle United 3-2<\/a> in a pre-season friendly on Sunday, and boss <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/people\/mikel-arteta\/\" title=\"More Mikel Arteta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong class=\"autotag\">Mikel Arteta<\/strong><\/a> will hope that his side&#8217;s preparation for 2025-26 will yield silverware at the end of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal have not won a major trophy since 2020 and have finished second for three consecutive seasons in the Premier League, and there are concers that the club could lose their star players unless they end their drought.<\/p>\n<p>Centre-back Saliba&#8217;s contract runs until 2027, and Real Madrid have been credited with an interest in his signature should he continue to run down his deal.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Frenchman spoke to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AFTVMedia\" rel=\"nofollow\">AFTV<\/a>\u00a0and provided a positive update about his contract when asked when he will sign an extension, saying: &#8220;Hopefully soon! God is great. This year we will try to win everything.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Real Madrid were able to pry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/people\/trent-alexander-arnold\/\" title=\"More Trent Alexander-Arnold\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong class=\"autotag\">Trent Alexander-Arnold<\/strong><\/a> from Liverpool after the right-back ran down his Reds deal, but keeping Saliba would be a significant boost to Arteta.<\/p>\n<p class=\"imgI\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Arsenal's William Saliba on May 3, 2025\" class=\"vanilla-lazyload article-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/https:\/\/sportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net\/25\/20\/william-saliba.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>How important is Saliba to Arsenal&#8217;s Premier League hopes next season?<\/p>\n<p>Saliba has established himself as one of the Premier League&#8217;s finest defenders, with comparisons reguarly made to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/people\/virgil-van-dijk\/\" title=\"More Virgil van Dijk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong class=\"autotag\">Virgil van Dijk<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old won 66% of his ground duels in the 2024-25, a figure that exceeded Van Dijk&#8217;s figure (62%).<\/p>\n<p>It is important to highlight that he is also exceptional with the ball at his feet, with only two players having attempted more than his 2,547 passes in the top flight last season.<\/p>\n<p>There are few partnerships more resilient than when he plays alongside\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/people\/gabriel-magalhaes\/\" title=\"More Gabriel Magalhaes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong class=\"autotag\">Gabriel Magalhaes<\/strong><\/a>, and the duo will be key to Arsenal&#8217;s title challenge in 2025-26.<\/p>\n<p class=\"imgI\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Arsenal's William Saliba pictured on December 27, 2024\" class=\"vanilla-lazyload article-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/https:\/\/sportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net\/25\/04\/william-saliba.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Is Arteta facing a potential contract crisis?<\/p>\n<p>Supporters will naturally worry about Saliba&#8217;s contract situation until the club officially confirm his extension, but they arguably should be concerned about other stars.<\/p>\n<p>Talisman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/people\/bukayo-saka\/\" title=\"More Bukayo Saka\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong class=\"autotag\">Bukayo Saka<\/strong><\/a>&#8216;s deal also expires in 2027, and while is a boyhood Gunners fan, club allegiance did not stop Alexander-Arnold switching from Liverpool to Real Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>Arteta has faced criticism for failing to bring silverware to the Emirates in the past seasons, and there are fears that he may not be able to maximise the talent within his squad.<\/p>\n<p>If Arsenal once again fall short in terms of trophies in 2025-26, it would not be surprising if the club&#8217;s stars began looking at their futures.<\/p>\n<p>ID:578124:1false2false3false: from db desktop :LenBod:collect4318: <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/https:\/\/sportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net\/24\/25\/lewis-nolan-cat-picture.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal face the prospect of centre-back William Saliba leaving the club for free in 2027, but the defender&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":98637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[5407,3778,3779,1318,1461,1430,1232,3777,220,10214,3776,221,1926,62,3781,3780,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-98636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-arsenal","9":"tag-cycling","10":"tag-epl","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-golf","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-olympics","16":"tag-premier-league","17":"tag-real-madrid","18":"tag-rugby","19":"tag-soccer","20":"tag-sport","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-sports-mole","23":"tag-teams","24":"tag-tennis","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114929342194720426","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}