William Saliba says he wouldn’t consider leaving Arsenal for Real Madrid or anyone else because he wants to win everything with the Gunners first.
William Saliba officially extended his Arsenal contract to 2030 this week, despite reliable reports of interest from Real Madrid.
Real Madrid have started to make a habit of convincing players to run down their contracts before leaving for a minimal fee, as in the case of Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool.
When asked on Tuesday whether Saliba had seriously considered following in Alexander-Arnold’s footsteps, the defender suggested he’s not going to leave Arsenal without lifting a major trophy.
“As you said, he won some titles with Liverpool,” Saliba pointed out. “Me? I didn’t win anything here except the Community Shield, only Community Shield.
“So yeah, I’ve done nothing for this club to think about leaving. I want to stay here and win a lot of trophies.
“I love this club, I cannot leave this club without giving them something back. I won nothing, so my first choice was to stay here and win everything first.”
The good news for Arsenal fans is that they have quite a long time to win some trophies with Saliba. Even if the Gunners win major honours this season, the centre-back will still have another four years on his contract afterwards.
There’s no prospect of Real Madrid luring Saliba away on a free transfer until 2030 at the earliest, by which point the defender will be 29. If they want him before that, they’d probably have to invest a major fee.