Sport in France claim that William Saliba is “ready to stick a knife in the back of Marseille” due to his interest in PSG’s ‘Parisian project’.

Arsenal are trying to get William Saliba to renew his current contract that is set to expire at the end of the 23/24 season.

Since returning from his loan at Marseille, where he was named Ligue 1 Young Player of the Season, Saliba has made himself indispensable to Mikel Arteta, playing all but 14 minutes of Arsenal’s Premier League campaign so far.

Arsenal do not want to sell him.

Still, Sport.fr write, “Still looking for one or more names for the position of central defender, PSG would have set their sights on a certain William Saliba.

“The 21-year-old defender is having an XXL season with Arsenal, but above all, he would be very interested in the Parisian project.”

They also note that he is, as we say, in the middle of transfer negotiations with Arsenal and that, I think, is key to this story.

It never hurts for an agent to let it be known that there is not only interest in their client from a mega-rich club but, also, that their client likes what they are hearing from those people.

Just last week it was reported that Saliba is giving serious consideration to signing the contract that is in front of him with Arsenal and, if I had to guess, I’d say this story is the final little shove from his agent to get that wage offer as high as possible.

I’d be amazed if Saliba opts to leave Arsenal rather than sign a new deal, no matter what they are claiming in France.