Football London reports that Mikel Arteta has decided to give William Saliba the chance to fight for a first-team spot during the next preseason.
The Frenchman has spent this second half of the campaign on loan at Nice in the French Ligue 1.
He has been in impressive form for them and has caught the attention of some fans.
They have called for him to be given his chance to fight for a place on the Arsenal team and it seems Arteta will heed their calls.
The report says he would be part of the team’s plans for the start of the 2021/2022 season.
However, it isn’t the same good news for Konstantinos Mavropanos who has spent this season on loan at Stuttgart.
The Greek defender has similarly been in fine form and has even earned a callup to the Greece national team this year.
The Football London report says Arteta has decided that his future would be away from Arsenal and Arteta will allow him to leave alongside David Luiz when this campaign ends.
Saliba now has the chance to prove Arteta wrong for doubting him initially and his fans will hope he makes them proud when he returns to the Emirates.
We shall see. Will he “get his chance” like Martinelli or Nelson did? Joining the first team and actually playing are 2 different things.
Hope he truly gets a chance to prove himself and not judged on 1 or 2 appearances.
Putting aside the Saliba issue for a moment.. Can someone explain the logic in denying a young talented defender a chance to earn a 1st team spot? Even if it would only be for cup games(Unfortunately these will be limited next year) and injury cover? Presuming for a moment that Saliba takes Luiz spot, is dino that much worse than a Mari or Holding(Who could bring in much needed funds this window)?
Yes?
Currently Mari is our best Centre back.
Mari is so fragile and can not play five consecutive games without any injury. Saliba and Dino should be treated fairly and given chance. Dino even played a couple of PL games for Arsenal when Arteta was still a player
I would bring back mavro as he’s older and allow Saliba another year un loan…..
Give if a rest, Saliba needs to play in the premier league next season. .
Some times when arsenal is being hit by injuries, we need a serious backup ,so the two are OK for us, mav and saliba. Let the be there since old men like Luis is going.Gunner forever.
Pires,what would be the sense in loaning out saliba again.
Saliba is only 20yo …young and inexperience
at this age he can go on a loan to gain valuable experience and improve
Kilian Mbappe is 19 yo and already the best player in the world,wanted by all great teams in Europe.Gone are the times when a player reached the celebrity when he was 27 yo.(Messi was the top scorer of Barcelona when he was 17).
His 19 yr old former running buddy
@ St. Etienne Fofana has been
absolutely outstanding for LC
this season. The kid would easily
be Arsenals BEST 1st team CB
Why is it to early for MA to turn
Saliba loose and let him learn
the ropes of the EPL?
Well other than to prove to the
fanbase that he was wrong yet
again in player selection and
evaluation.
Arteta should give mavropanos a chance in the first team for the pre season
mavropanos couldn’t be any worse than holding and mari… he’s comfortable with both legs. why on earth would arteta let him go. what a waste… And I’ve started believing arteta is clueless indeed
clearly a bad decision
Arteta really stalled his development. Fofona use to be saliba understudy but Brenda has really maximised his potential at Leceister.
Omotosho and Dm, you guys will be bad coaches if u were to be one. Managing or coaching a team is not just what u teach or how your team plays, it involves key decisions too. They are letting Luiz go in the hope that Mari and Holding will steep up and be the leader of our defense. Both Saliba and Marvro are young and inexperience but Saliba is better with the ball at his feet and offers more while playing out from the back, if u were a coach, will u select Saliba and Marvro and do away with Holding and Mari who are far more experienced in favor of two rookie players in the form of Marvro and Saliba? There are positions on the pitch that requires more experience, the center back and the goal keeping positions bcs each mistake here will almost certainly result in a goal. You guys thinks that Marvro is not any worst that Mari and Holdings but wait till he plays in the premier league, with the quality, pace and intensity of the premier league, that’s when u will be able to judge him very well but for now, the jury is still out on him
I see no other player in Arsenal who goes into tackles better than Marvro. Go watch him again. He is a fearless player and commited one at that, which is one thing Arsenal lack most times. You cannot project how good or bad the player is until you give him a chance. The coaches saw something special in him before they bought him in the first place. Let him showcase himself. If not anything, as a solid squard player. We sell cheap anyway only to bring double the price to oanic buy when we run into crisis. See the number of clean sheets the Argentine keeper kept at AV.!!! while ours leak goals like a strainer.
TBH I would sell Holding long before I would let Mavro go elsewhere…based on his age and experience, you could likely raise more funds by selling Holding, which we could then allocate towards positions of greater need…besides a few injury-related concerns, which have likewise occurred with Holding, I just can’t fathom why any team looking to maximize their present assets would willingly choose to cut ties with this two-footed big man who’s quite pacey…whereas Holding is a bread and butter, dime a dozen defender, who definitely puts in a shift, but lacks the kind of cutting edge this club desperately needs moving forward…Mavro would likewise provide us with more tactical flexibility, as his experience would allow us to have a viable right-sided option in a back 3
In Wenger’s famous words.. Sorry he didn’t cost 50m
I would sell Gabriel, Chambers and Holding in a heartbeat!!!!
Just to keep MAVROPANOS and SALIBA playing in our defence next season.
They are way more talented and dynamic than those guys.
There is absolutely no discussion there.
The current apparent decisions being made by Arteta and Edu on the future of these young players Arsenal futures are beyond rational comprehension.
The powers that be at Arsenal don’t appear to know a good footballer, if he bit them on the arse. As TG states above, they appear ready to spend big money on players outside the club, while ignoring those right under their noses.
Movropanos should be given some chance to prove himself too in Arsenal shirt, for even a half a season, then take him or anyone who will be showing good future with us out on loan due to even few games but in premier league clubs. We need not to have a regret please!
How old is leicester’s Fofana when he signed and became a starter for them? This question goes to those of you saying Saliba and Mav are young and inexperienced. “If you’re good enough you’re old enough”
Spot on 👍
Mavro is even a two footed center half meaning he has the vacitility which will be handy in injury crisis
Given his injury record if there is an injury crisis he will definitely be part of the injured list
Give both players chance during pre- season and select based on performance. You don’t rebuild based on sentiment. The ones that played this season, what have they really done. We still languish in mid- table. Give everyone a clean bill of health and select the squad for the next season on merit.
I don’t know much about him but I was looking forward to watching Saliba this season and I am doing so again next
I am a Holding fan but hope that Saliba comes back and pushes him for the shirt by performances when he gets his chances
I don’t know much about Mavro either, my only distant recollection is that he was sent off at Leicester?
I’m not holding (sic) that against him I just don’t know enough about him to want him back