Arsenal have opened contract talks with William Saliba, following his consistent run of starts in the team this season so far.

The Evening Standard report that Arsenal have held preliminary talks with William Saliba over a contract extension, with the club keen to tie him down to fresh terms.

On the subject of a new deal, the outlet quote Saliba as saying: “Yeah, we will see. They [Arsenal and my agent] talk a little bit.

“[When I spoke with Arteta in the summer], he talked about my last season and he explained the project for this season.

“You have to wait every time and I wait a long time for my first north London derby. I enjoyed it since the first minute to the end, and now I am so happy.”

David Ornstein recently reported that though Arsenal will be keen to extend Saliba’s contract, the player is in no hurry.

From the defender’s perspective, he has no reason to rush to sign a new deal, and he wants to see if this will continue to be a consistent run in the team.

With his performances so far this season, Arsenal will want to do a deal as soon as possible. Yet it’s true that out of three years and two months of football as an Arsenal player, Saliba has only spent those two months in the Gunners’ first team.

As it stands, the sample size for Saliba’s inclusion isn’t very large, even if it is the most recent data we have.

If he’s committing his long-term future, the French international will want to be sure he’s not about to drop back to the bench when that happens. But that demotion hardly seems likely right now.