There was a time a few weeks back when Tottenham entered the race for William Saliba, however, now it looks like the Gunners are set to win that race for the young Frenchman, as per James Benge on Twitter.
It shouldn’t bother Tottenham fans at all, though, and for good reason. Toby Alderweireld long looked like he would be on his way out of North London this summer, but now with his £25m release clause expiring on Thursday, the Lilywhites are set to keep him and don’t need a new centre-back.
Give the Lilywhites the choice between signing 18-year-old Saliba on an inflated deal from St. Etienne or keep Alderweireld, the Belgian colossus who has been with them for four years and helped to secure Champions League football in every season he’s been at the club, and it’s an easy decision.
Whilst we don’t want to be critical of a young player like Saliba who obviously has his entire career ahead of him at such a young age, he was simply too much of a risk for Spurs. At the age of 18, he has only played 19 senior matches in his career and has hardly proven himself.
In years to come, it may prove that the Lilywhites should have stuck it out and trusted that Saliba would develop into a top player, but with the club not lacking in defence like Arsenal, they can afford to let this one go and stick with Toby Alderweireld now that the player looks set on staying with Spurs, Sky Sports.
In terms of Tottenham losing out on Saliba, all will become clear whether or not it was a smart decision, but for now, the fans cannot look at it as a bad move when they’ve kept one of the best defenders in the league whilst Arsenal sign an unknown 18-year-old.