BREAKING | : Arsenal now ‘willing to sell’ Saliba as Arteta ‘plans’ huge Real Madrid swap deal

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is ready to allow William Saliba to leave the Emirates Stadium in a potential swap deal to Real Madrid, according to reports.

The Gunners are an attractive club for players nowadays under Arteta but most clubs in world football still struggle to be as appealing as Real Madrid.

France international Saliba has been in brilliant form over the past couple of seasons for Arsenal with the centre-back forming a brilliant partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes at the heart of the Gunners’ defence.

His performances have attracted interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid – who Arsenal pushed aside in their Champions League quarter-final with a 5-1 win on aggregate – over the past year or so.

There was no way that Arsenal were prepared to sell Saliba over the last couple of transfer windows with Arteta attempting to build a squad worthy of challenging in all competitions.

Despite failing to win the Premier League title once again, the Gunners are doing well in the Champions League with Arsenal competing against Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals.

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Arsenal may have lost the first leg of that tie against the French side but they had good chances to get something from the game and will travel to the Parc des Princes full of confidence.

Gunners are planning for next season already and Spanish website Defensa Central insist that Arsenal boss Arteta is ‘going to ask Real Madrid for a swap deal for’ Aurelien Tchouameni.

The report adds that Arteta ‘wants to sign Tchouameni and is willing to part ways with an Arsenal player’ in the form of Gunners centre-back Saliba.

Arsenal are now ‘willing to sell’ Saliba with Real Madrid ‘increasingly open to signing a defender’ as Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba are ‘getting older and are experiencing physical complications’.

But there could be a ‘complication’ as Tchouameni ‘doesn’t want to leave Real Madrid’ as ‘he’s happy here and still feels he has much more to contribute to the team.’

Currently, Real Madrid consider the France international as ‘untransferable and wouldn’t consider including him in any transfer’ but ‘in football, anything can happen, especially if the player changes his mind’.

For their part, Arsenal ‘won’t give up easily and will do everything possible to bring the French midfielder into their project’.

Regardless of whether Tchouameni leaves for Arsenal or not, Real Madrid believe they can sign Saliba for ‘a reasonable price’ as he ‘would be delighted to join the Real Madrid project’.