SALIBA FLIRTATION BEGINS

FRENCHMAN TOP OF THE LIST FOR MADRID

I’ve been saying it for a couple of years now: William Saliba will one day be a Real Madrid player. He’s the sauciest young centre-back in the world, extremely marketable, outrageously talented, and, more importantly... exactly the right nationality to slot into a very French-flavoured Madrid squad.

We’ve known it for a while: Arsenal have a galáctico on their hands. A one-man wrecking machine, with a modern defensive, artistic touch.

It was notable that the extension he signed with Arsenal was a four-year deal with no option. The player bet on himself. He most likely has his eyes on a move to Spain at some point, and he’ll want to be winning the biggest and best trophies in the world.

Our fanbase hasn’t really suffered over the past decade. Aaron Ramsey leaving on a free? Didn’t care. Alexis Sánchez before the great decline? I cared a bit but didn’t lose sleep. The last exit to really sting me was probably Cesc Fàbregas, or, at a stretch, Adebayor. We haven’t suffered true pain like losing Anelka for £21m to Real Madrid. Or Marc Overmars and Petit to Barcelona. Or Thierry Henry to Barcelona. We just haven’t had a good enough batch of players to have a Coutinho-like moment.

Well, welcome to the new era of Arsenal. We’ve signed, coached, and raised a batch of exceptional young players, and at some point, one of them is going to break our hearts.

The only way to combat this?

Big-money contracts.

Compete at the highest levels every season.

Win trophies.

That’s all you need. It’s a big ask, but there’s little reason to think we can’t deliver, considering what we’re seeing and what might happen to the power structure this season. I think we’re going to win the Premier League this season. If we can get past the quarter-finals of the Champions League, it’s a roll of the dice who wins. But why not Arsenal?

I don’t think there are many options more attractive than Arsenal in world football. Madrid, sadly, is always going to be one of them for certain players. South Americans tend to favour Spain for cultural reasons, French kids are always going to connect due to Madrid’s history, and there could even be deeper interest from English players, given Jude Bellingham's massive success there.

That said, London is a beautiful place to live. Arsenal Football Club has prestige, and a swagger it’s long lacked is well and truly back. We have world-class training facilities. A media that won’t search through bins. A kinder environment to play football. We’ve got it all right now.

What we don’t have are looser tax laws that give players more take-home pay. We also don’t currently have the finances to support some of the mega deals Madrid players are getting. Their wage bill sits at €492m gross, which is huge. England also doesn’t have nice weather.

The question yet to be answered is how KSE will adapt to the increasing demands of players moving into their prime. Will the family continue to ramp up wages as club revenue climbs? Or will there be a tap-out moment? You could argue that our mega transfer spending ended this summer as we missed out on signing a permanent winger, a new #6, and a striker. Is that a sign of tightening the budgets? Or just a squad bloat issue?

We don’t know yet. But with Big Bill Saliba, we’ll need to start negotiations on the next deal next summer. 2027 will come around fast. Mbappé left PSG on a free transfer. So the idea is out there. Will we go all-in for a ‘franchise player’, or will we finally feel the pain, numbed by a £150m fee?

A bit scary, but my job here is to be honest so you can prepare a safety blanket if the worst happens.

Ok, I’m signing off. See you tomorrow. x