When Arsenal could announce new William Saliba contract as deadline approaches after ‘agreement’

Arsenal supporters have received some encouraging news regarding the future of William Saliba.

It has been widely discussed that the Frenchman’s time in north London thus far has not gone smoothly. Despite joining the Gunners for £27m from Saint-Etienne in the 2019 summer transfer window, he’s yet to make a single senior appearance – albeit competitively as he has a few pre-season friendlies under his belt.

But following a successful loan spell with Marseille – which earned him recognition on the international stage – Saliba’s Arsenal career is poised to finally get underway with Mikel Arteta confirming the defender is part of his plans for the upcoming season having been impressed with the 21-year-old’s development.

READ MORE: Mikel Arteta puts to bed key criticism as William Saliba ‘agrees’ new Arsenal contract

“We always have a plan, and when we have to execute, that’s a different story, and football is a really funny game, but we are really happy to have him,” the Gunners manager told reporters. “You can see the way he’s adapted, the way he’s matured, and he’s playing well, and we are delighted to have him.”

With that said, Arsenal could have Saliba for many more years amid claims that he has already ‘agreed’ to sign a new contract at the Emirates Stadium. Although whilst the aforementioned report states that everything is in place, it should be noted that there is ‘no word on when an official announcement is expected’.

This development comes hot on the heels of the defender’s agent Niang Djibril posting a rather cryptic message on Instagram on the same day he joined up with the first-team squad for pre-season training as the post was of a room at London Colney where Saliba first signed his contract three years ago.

Furthermore, it’s the same room where the likes of Eddie Nketiah, as well as summer signings Matt Turner, Fabio Vieira and Gabriel Jesus, have been pictured in alongside technical director Edu – and on one occasion Arteta – following major announcements since the end of last season.

But if reports are to be believed that Saliba has agreed to sign a new contract and Arsenal are playing a waiting game regarding an official announcement, when would be the perfect time to do so? Well, along with the perfect gift of his dream shirt number would be ideal.

As revealed by the reliable @precbrown95 on Twitter earlier in the month, Saliba seemingly confirmed that he will wear the no. 2 shirt next season – which technically isn’t available at the moment – as there was an image of his autograph which has the number 2 in clear sight.

This isn’t the first time Saliba has indicated that this is his favoured shirt number as he previously posted an image on Instagram of his new Nike trainers which had ‘WS2’ imprinted on them and he also wore no.2 on his debut for the France national team back in March when he replaced Raphael Varane in a friendly against Ivory Coast.

Of course, for Saliba to wear no.2 for Arsenal next season he needs the current incumbent of the aforementioned squad number – Hector Bellerin – to either leave amid talk of a return to Real Betis or take a leaf out of Mohamed Elneny’s book and agree to a change in what would be a classy gesture on the Spaniard’s behalf.

Now, all of this must be sorted before the Gunners’ first game of the new Premier League season against Crystal Palace in just under a fortnight as rules state: ‘While he remains with the Club a Player will retain his shirt number throughout the Season for which it was allocated’.

Saliba has trained and made two pre-season appearances so far wearing the no.12 shirt and whilst that may not be representative of the finalised squad numbers for the 2022/23 campaign, if he struts out at Selhurst Park with it then he won’t be able to change until the following season.

With that said, there was an exception to the rule last season upon Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United as league officials sanctioned a special dispensation to allow Edinson Cavani to vacate the number 7 shirt so that the Portuguese superstar could continue wearing the iconic number.

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