Contrary to certain rumours in the last day or so, William Saliba won’t be leaving Arsenal and isn’t for sale this summer.

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Nice’s French defender William Saliba looks on during the French L1 football match between Nice and Bordeaux at the “Allianz Riviera” stadium in Nice, on January 17, 2021. (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)

On Thursday, Kicker reported that Bayer Leverkusen are interested in William Saliba. With the reports linking Arsenal to Bayer centre-back Edmond Tapsoba, some outlets suggested a swap deal might be on the cards, though it’s worth mentioning that Kicker didn’t.

All the same, it was enough to stir the Arsenal fans up into a premature fury that the club would be letting Saliba go.

According to Chris Wheatley, that’s not the case. As previously reported elsewhere, Saliba will stay with Arsenal for pre-season, and Wheatley adds that the defender isn’t for sale and won’t be leaving Arsenal this summer.

In a later piece on Football.London, they expand on this point to specifically rule out the possibility of Saliba being included in a swap deal this summer.

Meanwhile, OGC Nice President Jean-Pierre Rivere has been speaking to the media about their own desire to bring Saliba back.

“William (Saliba), if we could extend his deal for a year, we would be happy to do so,” Rivere said. “But he belongs to Arsenal, we do not have control.”

You’d hope that would be the end of the saga. Arsenal plan to give the defender a chance, they don’t want to sell, so there should be nothing else to add on the subject over the next month and a half.

But it’s the transfer window, and it’s Arsenal, so I’m sure we’ll hear plenty more nonsense before pre-season kicks off.