Euro giants ‘offer’ Arsenal £80m for Arteta starter after confirmation that Edu is leaving
Arsenal have received a huge offer from Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain for French centre-back William Saliba, according to reports.
The Gunners have taken a dip in recent weeks with Mikel Arteta’s side only picking up one point in their last three Premier League matches.
That has seen Arsenal drop down to fifth in the Premier League table, below Nottingham Forest and Chelsea, with the Gunners now seven points adrift of leaders Liverpool.
Their poor run of form has coincided with Saliba being sent off for the first time in his Premier League career on the road at Bournemouth.
In their last three league matches, Arsenal lost that match against the Cherries 2-0, drew 2-2 against Premier League leaders Liverpool and were defeated 1-0 at Newcastle on Saturday.
Saliba has built a brilliant partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes with the duo forming one of, if not the best, central defensive pairing in the Premier League last term.
And now French side PSG are trying to break that partnership up with reports in Spain claiming the French giants have made a €95m (£80m) ‘offer’ to Arsenal for Saliba.
It is understood that ‘this move makes it clear that PSG are willing to invest heavily to build a solid defence and ensure European success, a priority objective for the board and, especially, for their coach, Luis Enrique’.
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Despite the offer, ‘it won’t be easy for PSG to pull off such a move’ as Arsenal know ‘that Saliba is a key piece for Arteta ‘s project and that losing him could mean a setback for their aspirations to fight in the Premier League and in Europe.’
But the report adds that €95m is a ‘difficult sum to turn down, and pressure from PSG could force Arsenal to rethink their stance’.
Widespread reports have indicated that Arsenal sporting director Edu is leaving Arsenal and will accept an offer from Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis to join his group of clubs as a top recruiter.
BeIN Sports presenter Richard Keys was surprised at the news and reckons Arsenal boss Arteta “has looked out of sorts recently”.
Keys wrote in his blog: “Well that’s a bit of a turn up. No-one saw this one coming. Edu is leaving.
“That’s all we know right now but you can be sure more of the details will emerge over the next 24 hours or so.
“It’s funny – I’m not suggesting for a minute that I had any idea, but I was going to ask the question ‘what’s really wrong with Arsenal’ today.
“I intended to make the argument their slump couldn’t simply be because Odegaard is missing. A club the size of Arsenal should be able to absorb the loss of one player – no matter how good he is. That’s why I don’t buy into the argument that Rodri is irreplaceable at City.
“Arteta has looked out of sorts recently. Having said that – I’m not convinced that knowing Edu’s plans (Arteta will definitely have had knowledge) should’ve affected things in any way at all on the pitch. It’s just all a bit odd. But there’s definitely something not right.
“They were way off the pace you expect from a team with title ambitions at Newcastle. The Toon didn’t really have to work that hard to beat them. Arsenal had just one shot on target over the 90 mins – nothing in the second half when they were trailing. That’s poor. Really poor. They were completely out of ammo.
“As Arsenal appear to be running in mud, Liverpool impress more and more. Brighton were terrific most of the afternoon and might have got out of Anfield with a win but for two minutes and two seconds of madness.”