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What's the story?
According to Mohamed Bouhafsi from RMC Sport, Arsenal have decided to match Tottenham's bid of €30m + bonuses for William Saliba and will imminently send their official offer to St Etienne.
RMC Sport have exclusively revealed that St Etienne are in no rush to agree a deal and will take time to weight up all their options.
In case you didn't know...
The 18-year-old looked set to join Arsenal before Spurs declared their interest with an eleventh-hour bid, which has blown the situation wide open.
Spurs accelerated their efforts to snap up the highly-rated defender by submitting a bid of €30m + bonuses, thereby blowing Arsenal out the water with a substantially higher offer.
The heart of the matter
As revealed by Bouhafsi earlier, St Etienne are in no rush to cash-in on their prized asset as they believe the two North-London clubs being locked in negotiations works to their advantage.
Les Verts believe they've sparked a bidding war between the two rivals and added to the fact that this could enable them to receive a higher transfer fee, the club also want to protect the interests of the player.
Saliba initially had his heart set on a move to the Emirates but in recent days, Tottenham's approach seems to have put him in a spot of bother and it remains possible that he could land up either side of the North-London divide.
What's next?
RMC Sport have also disclosed that Spurs officials met with Saliba's entourage as recently as Saturday to dislodge their official offer for the player and with Arsenal's decision to match their bid in recent hours, things are about to get really tricky for everyone involved.
Saliba's final destination remains unclear but at this point, it's a given that he'll be plying his trade with a London club for the 2020/21 season.
Regardless of who wins the race for Saliba's signature, any deal would involve the player staying on loan at St Etienne for the forthcoming season and with less than a month left for the transfer window to conclude, the coming week will be crucial in determining the Frenchman's future.
