Led by an excellent Dimitri Payet since the start of the season, OM alternates between good and bad in Ligue 1 and the Europa League, and this while the recruitment led by Pablo Longoria last summer during the Mercato was incredible with no less than ten arrivals recorded on the side of Olympique de Marseille (Pau Lopez, WIlliam Saliba, Luan Peres, Leonardo Balerdi, Pol Lirola, Mattéo Guendouzi, Gerson, Amine Harit, Konrad de la Fuente, Cengiz Ünder).
And among these new recruits, if Jorge Sampaoli and the Marseille leaders had quickly been seduced by the qualities of Mattéo Guendouzi and Cengiz Ünder, another OM player also put everyone in agreement, including on the side of supporters of the Marseille club: William Saliba (20).
Currently loaned without purchase option by Arsenal to Olympique de Marseille, the young central defender of the France Espoirs team, trained at ASSE – AS Saint-Etienne, is having fun with Jorge Sampaoli’s eleven and has clearly taken a new step. This is why Pablo Longoria has already planned to launch negotiations with Arsenal management to discuss the case of the current Marseille number 2.
If Mikel Arteta and the board of the Gunners follow with great attention the performances of William Saliba with OM, the latter, who already count the former Lille and Brazilian neo-international Gabriel Magalhães as central defender, had also released the checkbook to pay the 64M € claimed by Brighton for the transfer of Ben White.
Problem: after having chained several loans in recent seasons, including one at OGC Nice last year, William Saliba wants to settle over time in a club where he will have playing time, to progress, while being able to play the European Cup. An indisputable holder at Olympique de Marseille, the former ASSE player is aware that he will hardly be able to benefit from the same guarantees at Arsenal in 2022/2023.
Two options could therefore be offered to Pablo Longoria on this golden file: pay a dry transfer (which will surely be greater than € 20M …) or try to obtain a new loan (with an option to buy this time). ?). Not easy then, but the Olympian club of Frank McCourt believes it hard as iron and for his part, the native of Bondy would already be very favorable to the idea of continuing his career at OM.