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Manchester City are planning to make a bid for Arsenal defender William Saliba in the summer transfer window, with a report revealing why the Cityzens are keen to move quickly for the Gunners star.
Saliba has established himself as one of the best and most important players for Arsenal. Despite being just 24 years of age, the France international centre-back has already played 122 matches for the north London club, scoring seven goals and giving two assists in the process. Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor described Saliba as the only “world-class” player at Arsenal during a discussion on talkSPORT in April 2024.
Interestingly, Agbonahor also predicted Saliba to be on the radar of Real Madrid, and while that is the case, Man City are now said to have joined the race for the Arsenal star.
According to Defensa Central, Man City manager Pep Guardiola has ‘called for a revolution’ at the Etihad Stadium after a bitterly disappointing season.
While Man City have reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, they did not win the Carabao Cup, are already out of the Champions League and may not even end up in the Premier League top four this season.
Guardiola is keen on changing his squad, and one of the players that the Man City boss wants to sign is Arsenal and France international centre-back Saliba.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss is aware that one of the biggest problems that he has is that Man City have ‘lost their defensive reliability’.
That is why, according to Defensa Central, Man City are planning to offer millions to Arsenal for Saliba in the summer transfer window.
Arsenal have established themselves as regular Premier League title challengers, and it is unlikely that Gunners manager Mikel Arteta would be willing to sell Saliba this summer.
Of course, all players have their price, but Man City would have to pay a lot of money to prise Saliba away from Arsenal.
Man City aware of Real Madrid interest in William Saliba
According to Defensa Central, Madrid are interested in Saliba, but the plan of the defending Spanish and European champions is to sign the defender in the summer of 2026.
That is because at the end of next season, Saliba will have just one year left on his current contract at Arsenal.
Man City are aware of Madrid’s plan and aim to secure the services of the defender in the summer of 2025 to get ahead of the competition.
However, other media outlets have consistently claimed that Madrid plan to sign Saliba this summer.
There have been reports in the French media that Los Blancos have already made contact with Saliba’s entourage to gauge his interest in a possible move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Latest Man City news: Reijnders enquiries, Jonathan David interest
TEAMtalk’s transfer correspondent Fraser Fletcher has reported that Man City are interested in signing Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan in the summer transfer window.
Sources have told TEAMtalk that Reijnders is high on Man City’s shortlist of midfielders for the summer and have already made enquiries to understand the conditions of a potential deal.
TEAMtalk’s transfer correspondent Fraser Fletcher has also reported that Man City are interested in a summer deal for Jonathan David.
David is out of contract at Lille at the end of the season and will be available on a free transfer this summer.
We understand that Man City are among the clubs who have gathered information about David’s situation.
Meanwhile, Man City winger Jack Grealish is the subject of interest from Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur, according to a report.
