Arsenal chief's crucial comment to land Mikel Arteta the 'new Virgil van Dijk'

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Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke has revealed how the Gunners signed William Saliba. 17:13, Thu, May 28, 2026 Updated: 17:18, Thu, May 28, 2026 Josh Kroenke has explained how Arsenal signed William Saliba (Image: Getty)William Saliba was central to Arsenal's strategy of "take a step back to go forward" as they clinched their first league title in 22 years.

Read our Privacy PolicyKroenke said: "It's funny to think back on this one, I had a great conversation with Per Mertesacker. After the final in Baku I made a comment about Virgil van Dijk, who had arrived at Liverpool a year or two before."I said: 'How do we get one of these guys into our system?' He said: 'Well, unless you've got 100 million quid, you better not be thinking about him.' I said, 'Who's the best young defender in Europe?'"He turned without hesitation and said William Saliba.

There were so many moving parts at that time..."Arsenal secured Saliba's signature that summer but subsequently sent him out on loan for three years before Mikel Arteta made him a cornerstone of their defence, with the Frenchman establishing himself as one of the finest defenders on the planet.Kroenke said: "I don't get involved in transfers. I think my job is to understand the 'why' on the front end, so there's accountability on the back end if it goes wrong.Saliba is now widely considered among the world's finest defenders (Image: Getty)"So, I'm not taking credit for any transfers or anything like that, but I want to be around and understand why we're going after certain things."The William one is interesting and Mikel and I have now laughed about this because I didn't tell him the story until much later, but when we purchased William and he went on loan for two seasons."Then we were transitioning to Mikel by the time William rejoined us, there some thoughts on the front end about William rejoining our squad that were very well covered.