Real Madrid ‘offer’ £79m plus two players for Arsenal star as Romano gives update

Arsenal have received an ‘offer’ from Real Madrid for William Saliba as the Gunners continue to work on a new contract for the defender, according to reports.

The Gunners have made some great progress in the transfer market this summer with Kepa Arrizabalaga, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera and Viktor Gyokeres all signing.

Arsenal could now look to move some players on before resuming work to improve the squad with Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus one of the players linked to a move away.

Charles Watts, who has been covering Arsenal for years, has insisted that Mikel Arteta’s squad is “suddenly looking very bloated” and named four players could move on.

Watts wrote in his Caught Offside column recently: “With all the new arrivals the squad is suddenly looking very bloated and Andrea Berta will be looking to find takers for players like Reiss Nelson, Sambi Lokonga, Fabio Vieira and maybe Oleksandr Zinchenko.”

After Saliba’s comments, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano gave an update on the France international’s situation with Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta “working hard” on a new deal.

Romano said on his YouTube channel: “William Saliba confirms, ‘Hopefully soon’ when asked about a new contract at Arsenal. Well, I can confirm that Arsenal’s sporting director is working hard on this deal.

Arsenal are prepared to accelerate talks with William Saliba; they’ve already started negotiations with his agents. Since Berta arrived, he has been working on extending Ethan Nwaneri, which will be official soon. Myles Lewis-Skelly is already official.