Jude Bellingham sends Arsenal huge William Saliba warning as Real Madrid intentions clear

William Saliba has developed into one of the world's best centre-backs since breaking into the Arsenal first team in the 2022/23 season.

After joining the Gunners for £27million from Saint-Etienne in 2019, the French defender remained with the Ligue 1 side for the 2019/20 campaign before being sent out on loan to Nice and Marseille. Saliba eventually made his Arsenal debut against Crystal Palace in August 2022 and has since formed an incredible partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes.

His form was rewarded last summer when he signed a new contract, keeping him at Emirates Stadium until 2027. Recently, however, there have been reports linking Saliba to a move to Real Madrid, with French outlet Le10 Sport claiming Los Blancos have made the defender a ‘priority’ in the 2025 summer transfer window.

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"We have to plan for the future," Mikel Arteta said last month when asked if Saliba, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli could soon be rewarded with new contracts. "We are all working on it, obviously Edu and all the board is on top of it and we will try to do things in the right way, being fair and trying to plan the best possible way to reward the players that, in our opinion, have a big future for the club. When we have something to announce, we will do that."

Saliba will still have two years remaining on his contract when next summer arrives, but if Real Madrid are serious about the defender then a decision will need to be made - both by the club and player. Jude Bellingham was lured to the Spanish capital last summer and has admitted when Madrid come calling it is "hard not to open and accept".

Speaking ahead of Real Madrid's Champions League tie with Liverpool at Anfield, Bellingham revealed how close he came to joining the Reds when leaving Borussia Dortmund. “It probably wasn’t as close as a lot of the media made out,” Bellingham said when speaking to TNT Sports this week. “I had conversations with a few clubs when leaving Borussia Dortmund.

“I made that decision and they gave me permission to speak to a few clubs, and one thing I have to say is all the clubs I spoke to were very respectful of me and my family. That for me was of huge value and something I really respected so I don’t want to say anything that sounds disrespectful to them, but when Real Madrid come knocking on the door it shakes the whole house.

“It’s hard not to open and accept, so I think – as I said before – it’s not a matter of the teams weren’t good or bad when I spoke to them, it’s just Real Madrid are on another level.”

While Saliba appears to be very happy in London, Bellingham's comments perhaps offer a timely warning to Arsenal with the defender's contract slowly running down. With the Gunners challenging for major titles under Arteta, the hope will be that Saliba sticks around for many years to come.