Having sold Wesley Fofana to Leicester City for a fee of around €40m, AS Saint-Etienne desperately wanted a new centre-back.
They got one in the end in the shape of Panagiotis Retsos on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, and tried to bring back William Saliba on loan from Arsenal.
The French centre-back was already there last year as per the agreement between the two sides at the time of his sale to the Gunners, and a late move was being discussed near the deadline.
It ultimately fell through, and Saint-Etienne have laid the blame on Arsenal for that, taking to their official website to explain what happened.
They claim an agreement with Saliba had been reached ‘well before’ the deadline, as was the offer from Arsenal of a loan for a season.
However, ‘all the administrative details weren’t put together in time, in England, to finalise the deal’, describing the transfer’s failure as a ‘great disappointment’ for both themselves and Saliba, who was ‘particularly determined to return to the club’.
