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Arsenal’s interest in Tierney on the wane as they close in on £25m deal for French teenager

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Arsenal are deep in negotiations with Saint Etienne over a £25m deal for William Saliba.

The 18-year-old has played in 16 Ligue One matches but appears to be rated higher than Kieran Tierney as the Gunners stretch their transfer budget to cover the Celtic defender and Wilfried Zaha.

Structuring transfer fees is a major part of deals these days with Celtic paid in full a year ago for Moussa Dembele when the striker moved to Lyon.

After having a £15m bid for Tierney rejected more than a fortnight ago there has been no follow up offer with the Evening Standard detailing negotiations for the French teenager:

Arsenal are edging closer in their efforts to agree a deal with Saint Etienne for defender William Saliba. The Gunners are in advanced talks to sign the 18-year-old for a fee yet to be finalised but thought to be in the region of £25million.

The structure of proposed payments is under discussion due to one of the main sticking points of the deal: the Ligue 1 club are insisting Saliba remains with them for the 2019-20 season. Arsenal head coach Unai Emery wants to bring in Saliba now but the centre-back is viewed as such an exciting prospect that they appear to be ready to accept Saint-Etienne’s demands, something club president Roland Romeyer insists is also the player’s wish.

Tierney hasn’t said a word about looking to leave Celtic with his agent, Allan Preston admitting to BBC Scotland that nothing will happen unless two clubs can agree a deal.

Celtic open their competitive season in Bosnia tonight against FK Sarajevo in a Champions League qualifier with Tierney left behind at Lennoxtown to continue his rehab from an end of season hernia operation.

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