Saint-Etienne have hit out at Arsenal as William Saliba will no longer play in the French Cup final later this month.
The Gunners signed Saliba in a £27 million deal last year but the centre-back has remained on loan with Saint-Etienne this season.
The Ligue 1 campaign was cancelled in April in response to the coronavirus pandemic but Saint-Etienne are still due to play Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Coupe de France on July 24.
On Tuesday, Mikel Arteta gave his blessing for Saliba to play in the final and indicated that an agreement had been reached between Arsenal and Saint-Etienne.
But the French club now claim that Saliba will not feature due to Arsenal’s absolutely unacceptable sports and financial conditions’.
A statement from Saint-Etienne read: ‘AS Saint-Etienne was pleased to learn yesterday Tuesday that Mikel Arteta, Arsenal coach, was ready to leave William Saliba at the disposal of the club until the final of the Coupe de France, July 24.
‘William Saliba had been training for several days with Claude Puel’s group and was obviously very enthusiastic about the idea of finishing his course in Green with such a match.
‘Alas, ASSE, which simply wanted the extension of the initial loan until July 24, could not find an agreement in the evening with Arsenal to allow the defender to properly prepare and play this meeting, the English club imposing absolutely unacceptable sports and financial conditions.’
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