Arsenal's star defender William Saliba is a priority target for Real Madrid this summer. The La Liga defending champions are ready to shell out a world record price to bring the 23-year-old French centre-back on board, a Spanish media report said.
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The development comes not long after Real Madrid was linked to Liverpool Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bayern Munuch's Alphonso Davies to operate on the right and left sides of its defense respectively.
Harry Maguire, who moved to Manchester United from Leicester City for £80 million in 2019, is the most expensive defender in modern football. Sport reported that Real Madrid are willing to break this record by offering up to £83 million to Arsenal for Saliba's services.
Saliba's market price stands at 80 million euros, 57.5 million more than what he was worth when the Gunners signed him from AS Saint-Etienne in 2019.
The report also claimed that Real Madrid have already made preliminary inquiries with Saliba’s representatives. Goal.com said that the talks were positive from the Los Blancos' point of view, as they found the response received to be encouraging. The report added that the talks' progress will depend on Arsenal’s interest in letting their star player go.
Gaffer Mikel Arteta likes Saliba very much and Arsenal had rejected an €95 million offer from PSG just two months ago, Sport claimed. He remains central to Arteta's plans and forms a formidable defense partnership alongside Brazilian Gabriel Magalhaes. Despite being a right-footed player, he can be used as a left centre-back and also fits well as a right-back.
Saliba signed a contract extension with Arsenal last summer, extending his stay at the Emirates Stadium for the next two-and-a-half years. Last month, Saliba stated that he felt at home at Arsenal and enjoyed being around the players, staff, and fans of the London club.
Earlier, it was reported that Arteta was looking to sign Real's Turkish attacker Arda Guler, who arrived at the Spanish capital from Fernabache. Guler and Brazilain wonderkid Endrick have been largely used as late substitutes by Carlo Ancelotti who got the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Brahim Diaz and Rodrygo Goes at his disposal.
