Move on, Real Madrid - this man stays at Emirates

It happens to most of the big clubs that in the midst of huge competition and thus distributed playing time, they lose some 'offended' star, but not to Arsenal. Mikel Arteta has been successfully "handling" the situation within the team for several years now, and the news that arrived from London this Thursday is just one in a series of confirmations of that claim. As reported by The Athletic, the Gunners agreed on a contract extension with William Saliba.

The signature that the French defender should put on a new, five-year contract is one of many that the Premier League runners-up secured in order to preserve the team in the long run. Ethan Nwaneri pledged his allegiance in August, Myles Lewis-Skelly at the end of June, and Saliba's defensive partner Gabriel Magalhaes did the same at the beginning.

Only the attacking quartet of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard are secured until June 2027.

The north Londoners have already set one of their top priorities, which is a new contract for Saka.

In terms of the market, Saliba was a priority since there was already a lot of speculation about Real Madrid's interest in the 24-year-old centre-back. It was written even a month ago that Los Blancos offered Arsenal their Rodrygo. Alas, we see now that the Gunners are not interested in that sort of a deal.

Saliba arrived at the Emirates six years ago from Saint-Etienne for 30,000,000 euros, although at that time he was a diamond in the rough. He was honed in the next three seasons by the same Saint-Etienne, then Nice and Marseille, where he spent time on loan in order to join Arteta's team in 2022 and immediately profiled himself as one of the key players. Thus, during those three seasons, he has collected 139 appearances in all competitions for the Gunners.