Real Madrid takes a hit in the market, farewell to the white club: 'They're not good...'

The roadmap of the bosses led by Florentino Pérez to expand Santiago Bernabéu's locker room seems very clear: Ibrahima Konaté and William Saliba, both as free agents. Liverpool's "5" would arrive during the summer of 2026, while Arsenal's defender would join completely for free the following year.

That plan, however, would be at risk after the information handled in the United States. Not only has the comment left by William Saliba in a preseason friendly for Arsenal set off the alarm in the Valdebebas offices. The "2" gunnerhoped to sign "soon" his next contract renewal with the English squad.

Mario Cortegana warns that the French footballer's comment is not a coincidence, since he could meet with his agent to assess the extension of his stay at Emirates Stadium. "I don't think this is good news for Real Madrid, obviously. In these kinds of negotiations, people don't speak so openly" about future intentions, a change that points to different dynamics.

Even though the signing of the French defender has become more difficult due to the proximity of a renewal with Arsenal, "this doesn't mean that Saliba has renewed. Not even that he's definitely going to renew", warns Mario Cortegana, "but it does confirm" the conversations between William Saliba's camp and the bosses in north London.

Signing becomes more difficult

"Those conversations" are designed to turn William Saliba "into one of the centers and pillars of the project" that's starting to fill up with footballers of the highest level. They also secure the future of the players who are already part of it, like the French center-back himself. "The squad is being reinforced in a way that could encourage the most important players" to move closer to their renewal.

The current limit of William Saliba's contract, Mario Cortegana points out, made the white executives "fully aware that this summer was very difficult". Arsenal's resistance to letting one of its biggest stars leave is complemented, the 'The Athletic' journalist warns, by "a completely prohibitive figure to close the deal".

The Spanish journalist argues that "Real Madrid is more than covered in the center-back position", offering a detailed analysis of the players Xabi Alonso still has. The Tolosa coach, looking to find a place for all those players, keeps insisting on the arrival of one more defender.

Especially if he intends to regularly use a defense made up of five footballers: three center-backs and two wing-backs. In any case, the merengue bosses see the ideal scenario for William Saliba's signing in jeopardy after his words in that friendly. The intentions to renew the "2" gunner, increasingly present, would prevent a desired signing in the Valdebebas offices.