‘I have done nothing for this club to think about leaving’ – William Saliba on his new contract with Arsenal | OneFootball

William Saliba says he never thought about leaving Arsenal, insisting he wants to guide the club to silverware.

The French defender has signed a new five-year deal with the club, with his previous contract having been set to run out at the end of next season.

Saliba was reportedly attracting interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid but says he never entertained the thought of leaving.

When a reporter pointed to Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving Liverpool for Madrid as an example, Saliba responded: “He won some titles with Liverpool. Me, I didn’t win anything here except the Community Shield.

“I have done nothing for this club to think about leaving. I want to stay here and win a lot of trophies.

“To be honest, I wasn’t really focused on the clubs outside because I was just focused on here.

“I knew I wanted to stay here for more years, so I wasn’t really focused on the other clubs. I’m fully focused on my club.”

Having had to bide his team to wait for his first-team opportunity, which included going out on loan three separate times, the 24-year-old admits it was not always clear if he would make it with the Gunners.

“When I arrived in 2020 and I didn’t play for six months then got sent out on loan, of course I had some doubts,” he said. “I thought maybe I would never play for this club but I told myself that I could not leave this club without playing.

“I didn’t give up. I went out on loan, I played some games, I came back here and I started playing in almost every game. I’m proud of myself for not ever giving up.”