Arsenal have been warned that deciding to sanction the sale of William Saliba to Real Madrid will destabilise their squad and cause two of the Gunners' other biggest stars to question their future.
Mikel Arteta's side have come close to winning the Premier League title the last two seasons in a row, being pipped to the post by Manchester City on both occasions. And this year Liverpool will lift the trophy after seeing the Gunners' challenge fall away, though they are still set to seal second place again with two games remaining.
Ultimately, it has been a disappointing return in the league for the Gunners, who are 21 points short of their total from last season with two games left to play. There had been promise in the Champions League with a huge win over Real Madrid in the quarter-final, but it was ultimately heartbreak again for the Gunners as they lost out to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final.
One key man for the Gunners across the last three years has been Saliba, who has set about proving himself as one of Europe's top centre-backs, let alone those in his own age bracket having recently turned 24.
But with those outstanding performances comes interest from elsewhere, with Real Madrid being strongly linked to a move over the last few years. The Gunners star has just two years remaining on his contract, but football.london understands the Gunners are calm on the situation, and keen to renew his deal soon to see off interest from other interested parties.
The player is understood to be happy at Arsenal but aware of the need to win things if he wants to cement himself as the world's best centre-half; and he will want to see that ambition matched by the club.
A known tactic of Real Madrid in the transfer market has been to encourage players to run down their contracts and move on a free transfer, thus saving the club money on a fee while ensuring the player can pick up a wages bump after completing a move.
The Gunners would not consider sanctioning a move for Saliba this summer regardless of his contract situation, but if he only had a year remaining on his deal next summer, thoughts could potentially turn to receiving a fee for the talented defender rather than lose him for nothing in 2027.
However, Arsenal Invincible Emmanuel Petit has warned that if the club did decide to sell Saliba, it would mean the likes of Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka would also be forced to consider their futures.
"I've been reading things about Arsenal selling William Saliba to Real Madrid. I'm thinking, 'what the hell?'," Petit told talkSPORT.
"You want to bring in strikers, wingers, and then you sell your best defender? What's the point? It's a step back if you do that.
"The first step for Arsenal needs to be to keep their best players. If you start selling your best players, starting from Saliba, there's no way that players like Saka and Rice… they will think, 'what the hell? What are we doing?'"
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Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus with the Arsenal Therapy Dog Win during the Arsenal Men's team group shoot at London Colney on September 18, 2023
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