The headlines surrounding Arsenal football club this week have centered around supporter discontent with the leadership. The fans have voiced their disgust with the direction the Kroenke family has taken them, and Josh Kroenke, Vice-Chairman of the ownership group has responded publicly.
Transfer policy is certainly one area that has come under heavy scrutiny, so it will be interesting to see the fan reaction to the signing of defender William Saliba, an 18-year-old who currently plies his trade with St. Etienne.
According to the BBC, the club is closing in on completing this deal, with: “Arsenal are understood to be paying 30m euros (£27m) for Saliba with the fee paid in instalments.”
However, he won’t be making any impact on the club this upcoming season as he will immediately be loaned back to France.
It has certainly been a quiet transfer window at the north London club, and this transaction won’t exactly get things buzzing. The Gunners are working with a very tiny budget for transfers this summer, so don’t expect any splash signings. The rebuilding project looks set to be a long one.
Signing Saliba is a big victory though, especially given that the Gunners’ north London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, were after him.
NBC Sports writes that “Saliba is currently in Washington D.C. as ASSE prepares to face Montpellier and then either Bordeaux or Marseille.
Arsenal also continued to be linked with a move for Celtic’s Kieran Tierney.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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