William Saliba won’t go on loan this summer and only a ‘crazy’ bid would change Arsenal’s plan to keep him, according to a report.

Fabrizio Romano reports that claims of a possible loan move for William Saliba this summer are wide of the mark, with the Arsenal hierarchy and Mikel Arteta both keen for him to be involved with the Gunners this season.

The only way that situation could change would be if Arsenal received a crazy bid. Arsenal trust Saliba and are keen to give him a new contract.

At this point, it seems we can take the possibility of another loan move off the table completely, which makes sense.

It’s hard to think of a way for Saliba to have a better loan spell than his move to Marseille last season.

The centre-back was playing at a high level, he was playing regularly without any injury setbacks, and he put in strong enough performances to win the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award.

The only loan move Saliba could make that would arguably be a step up would be to join a top Premier League side. That would be a very strange call for Arsenal to make, strengthening a rival.

Chris Wheatley reports that Arsenal’s contract talks with Saliba are moving in a positive direction with the player set to return for pre-season training shortly.

In terms of the immediate future, Wheatley writes that Saliba will stay at Arsenal this season. Sources close to the player have confirmed as much, as well as Mikel Arteta last month.

“He has to come back,” Arteta said. “He has the experience and the necessary environment to be competitive with us.

“If he had stayed with us this year, with one Premier League game a week and with Ben White and Gabriel, he wouldn’t have had half the game time he had with Marseille, that’s for sure.

“In terms of his growth and what he could do next year, it wouldn’t have been good. William wasn’t with us because he wouldn’t have had the playing time required to gain experience. That’s it, nothing else.”