William Saliba has been one of Arsenal’s most impressive loanees in this campaign, but this isn’t the first time he is doing well out on loan.
The Frenchman spent the second half of last season on loan at Nice and impressed before returning to Arsenal.
In response, the Gunners signed Ben White from Brighton and sent him back out on loan to Olympique Marseille where he has been in fine form for most of this campaign.
The Frenchman is highly-rated in his homeland and he has thrived against top opponents like Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi this season.
Has he done enough to earn an Arsenal shirt next season? Only one man can answer that question and that is Mikel Arteta.
The Spaniard has enjoyed good performances from his current squad and has the right to decide if Saliba stays or leaves the Emirates again.
When asked if the youngster would have played against Leeds if he had stayed at Arsenal, the gaffer said via Sun Sports: “If, but he’s not.
“At the moment he’s there and he played a different game that week.
“He continues to do what he needs to which is play a lot of games and play well.”
He was then asked if Saliba can expect to fight his way into the Arsenal first-team next season, he added: “That’s a decision that we will make next summer.
“He’s our player and naturally that will happen. We’ll have to sit down and decide what the best next step is.”
From his performances in France, Saliba has done more than enough to warrant a first-team place at Arsenal next season.
However, Arteta has the final say on who can and who cannot be in his team.
The defender can only hope he has done enough to earn the trust of his manager, otherwise he would probably be sent out on loan again or even be sold by the Gunners in the summer.
in the world of manager-speak that didn’t sound very positive in terms of Saliba’s future with the club…all I hope is that the young Frenchman is rocking our kit come the start of next season
The question is will he sign a new deal US when he comes back.
Considering how he has been treated so far by Arteta, would you sign one if you were in his shoes?
Mikel Arteta certainly isn’t going out of his way to assure William Saliba that he has his manager’s support and confidence!
Tbh in my opinion Why should we be going to players begging them to sign. Also give them time on the pitch because they want it. Top club culture is you want to play prove yourself. People are crying for Arsenal to show an develop an Elite culture which we have missed since the early Wenger years. Now we show that people are up in arms at the club for it. A 20 year old who has played for 3 average French clubs in shit league is not in the position to expect playing time.
Saliba engineered a loan move not Arsenal people don’t understand this. When Arteta put down the challenge of you won’t be starting yet, but train hard and consistently when you get your chance take it. Saliba didn’t want to have to prove himself and run back to France…….. Again for the 2nd time.
Let’s not forget, he apparently had offers of a loan at both Everton, Newcastle and West Ham. He turned them down for the farmers league and a shit team like Marsielle who have won just 1 game in their last 5.
Every one saying about the PSG game “he kept Neymar Messi and Mbappe quite” is over hyped. Those 3 players have scored 11-12 goals between them so far this season in 14 matches, in that PSG team. Ander Harrera has scored more than both Messi and Neymar combined with a princely return of 4 goals.
I get it he’s a great prospect but we have to remember he’s just a prospect at the moment. He is not a seasoned Premier league player like Holding, Gabriel or White. Nor will he be until he grows a pair and decides he wants to earn his place not be given it just because. There are cracks showing for me with his mentality and commitment. Also with his off field problems last year and his little ban for a dirty video makes me ask why is he getting in those situations. All in all professionalism isn’t one of his strongest attributes atm.
I hope he comes back gets his head down and fights to prove his worth. If he does well have a very good defender on our hands
I would agree with you if it was not that arteta did not register him but kolasinac, mustafi last year. Arteta just made a managerial mistake here. We already had Luiz or pablo mari that have experience. Even soares, holding or chambers also have experience. We did not need mustafi. So we let saliba on the sidelines for a player that anyway left few weeks later. Managerial error. it is not being a great club because artera was demanding with thia young guy while you give minutes to Kola, mustafi or willian all year. Now i think that saliba proved too good to be on our bench. Lets be honest. He is playing 90mn each game in front of 67000 and playing top french league honors. And our back 4 is established. Do you really think saliba would accept being a second option ? I might be wrong and arteta might play a back 3 ot move white to DM but i think that is very clear is that saliba will ask for decent minutes that he will not be given any insurance with like emi except if arteta can convince him to give a try with us and extend by 2/3 years his contract. Otherwise, with only 2 years left on his contract, arsenal will probably sell him, maybe to marseille but they will never pay a lot (maybe 25/30 max). And we better include a very strong sell-on percentage because it will be a short time before he ends up signing for a huge amount to an european giant (barca, juve, real ?)
I watched the first half of the Nice v Marseille game this week and couldn’t be arsed to watch the second half, such a poor standard compared with here and even more passing across the back than we see at Arsenal. Though Saliba played on the right of a back three, he was mor fullback than centre back and played very assuredly although partly at fault for the Nice goal. I must admit he did remind me of a young Rio Ferdinand.
Agreed mate on the standard of League 1 and your comparison with Rio. He does have alot of similar traits fair play
Arteta is open about Salibas return and right now the situation seems to be 50-50. Lets wait and see how things develop.