Arsenal have now made a formal contract extension offer to William Saliba, according to David Ornstein.

The Athletic report that following preliminary discussions between Arsenal and William Saliba’s representatives over a new contract with the club, formal negotiations are now underway.

The Gunners have presented Saliba’s camp with an offer, with no agreement yet. The dialogue is set to continue as Arsenal try to tie the defender down.

Ornstein adds that Saliba has many admirers across Europe, and his current deal runs until 2023 with the option of a further year.

That contract situation was recently clarified, with some confusion over whether Saliba had a deal to 2023 with an option to 2024, or a deal to 2024 with an option to 2025. Unfortunately, it’s the former.

Speaking about the contract situations of Saliba, Bukayo Saka, and Gabriel Martinelli earlier this month, Mikel Arteta said: “Well, obviously we have to plan for the future and we are all working on it.

“Obviously Edu is on top of it and all the board. We will try to do things in the right way, being fair and trying to plan the best possible way and reward the players that, in our opinion, have a big future for the club.

“When we have something to announce, we will do that.”

Arsenal currently sit at the top of the league after 12 games and the top of their Europa League group after 5, which is surely more than anyone could have hoped for a start to the season.

Yet the team is generally pretty similar to last season’s. The only real changes are the addition of Gabriel Jesus up front, and the integration of Saliba in defence.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has mostly been unable to play much of a role so far due to injury, and Fabio Vieira, Marquinhos, and Matt Turner have only made one Premier League start between them.

So for the team to make such an improvement says a lot about the two additions themselves. Saliba is clearly a key man for the Gunners, and signing him up to a new contract is rightly a priority.