‘Don’t dare’, ‘please don’t’: Some Arsenal fans react to potential William Saliba development

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A number of Arsenal fans have taken to Twitter to urge the Gunners not to let William Saliba play in the French Cup final next month.

Arsenal beat Tottenham to the signing of the 19-year-old centre-back last summer in a £27million deal from Saint-Etienne (BBC Sport), but loaned him back to the Ligue 1 club for the entirety of the 2019-20 season as part of the deal.

Saliba missed a large part of the campaign through injury but impressed on his return against Monaco at the end of January and duly returned to the starting XI prior to the football suspension and eventual premature end to the Ligue 1 season.

While the French league campaign is over, the French Cup final is to go ahead at the Stade de France on 24 July, and Saint-Etienne are up against Paris Saint-Germain, but with Saliba’s loan set to expire on 30 June, he may not get the chance to play.

That said, the door is not completely closed, with Saint-Etienne boss Claude Puel telling a press conference (Le10 Sport via Football London) that the two clubs are yet to reach an agreement.

“William is at the end of the contract at the end of the month,” said the former Southampton and Leicester boss. “He takes great pleasure in training with his team, we will see what can be done to keep him a little longer with us.”

This hasn’t gone down too well with quite a few Arsenal fans, who are fearful Saliba could risk injury in that game, and took to social media to make their feelings clear: