As you’ll probably be aware by now, William Saliba wants to be able to play the Coupe de France for Saint-Etienne on July 24th, but no announcement has been made yet.
The player’s loan with the Ligue 1 club from Arsenal came to an end towards the end of June, and while he wasn’t meant to feature in the game at first, the Gunners changed their minds when they saw how upset he was at possibly missing the fixture.
Talks have been ongoing since, and local website Peuple Vert in France claim the reason behind the the official announcement’s setback is the player’s timetable.
Arsenal are the ones being a bit difficult it seems, as it’s claimed they want access to Saliba three days before the fixture so that he can undergo some tests (no details are given), to which the Ligue 1 club are ‘strongly opposed’.
The reason for that is they don’t want Claude Puel, their manager, to be without his centre-back in the final 72 hours before their season’s most important fixture.
However, the website believe ‘a solution should be found rather rapidly’.
