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William Saliba is now free to join Arsenal, although he is not eligible to play for them yet.
The highly rated teenage central defender was signed from French Ligue 1 side St. Etienne last summer, but a pre-condition of the deal was that he was immediately loaned back to them for the whole of the 2019 – 2020 season.
However, with the decision last week to cancel the remainder of the top two leagues in France because of the extension of the ban on sporting activity in the country, that season has now been deemed completed, and he is free now to join his parent club.
There is a catch though. Although he will be able to train with his new teammates, he will not be able to play in any competitive fixtures for them until next season. That is because clubs in England are required to finish the current campaigns with the personnel that they had prior to the suspension of football.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.