Fans react to Saliba leaving on loan
I have started to dread the word ‘loan’ ever since we signed William Saliba from French club St. Etienne in 2019.
In the first year of his contract, we loaned him out to his parent club, which was part of the deal. In the second year, it was Nice, a midtable team in France.
🚨 Exclusive: Arsenal defender William Saliba looks set to join Marseille on loan. Not done but 20yo has picked #OM from many options & now clubs need to agree deal. #AFC want him to get full season playing — still part of long-term thinking @TheAthleticUK https://t.co/RemZlyyb5J
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 2, 2021
And in the third year, it’s to Marseille, a team playing in the Europa League who will be fighting for a Champions League spot in the next season.
Although there has been an improvement in the teams he has been loaned out to, Arsenal fans will still be frustrated at how things have panned out. After David Ornstein revealed that Arsenal and Marseille were close to an agreement for yet another loan deal for the 20-year-old Frenchman, ‘William Saliba’ trended on Twitter.
Here’s how the Arsenal faithful reacted to the news:
Why is it that William Saliba needs to go out on his third loan to gain experience, but Mikel Arteta, who's led Arsenal to back-to-back 8th-place finishes and missed out on European football for the first time in 25 years, doesn't need to get experience before he's ready?
— Zach Lowy (@ZachLowy) July 2, 2021
It would be funny if Everton hijack the Ben White deal after Arsenal officially announce that William Saliba has been loaned out to Marseille.
— Harry (@RunReissRun) July 2, 2021
I have no idea why Arteta is choosing Chambers and Holding over Saliba!!!! https://t.co/fzZaHC4HGu
— London Highbury™ (@London_Highbury) July 3, 2021
£27m. 3 years into a 5 year deal. 3 separate loan spells. 0 competitive minutes for Arsenal. An absolute mess. pic.twitter.com/VPiFJnV78o
— Patrick Timmons (@PatrickTimmons1) July 3, 2021
Loaning William Saliba for 3 years out of his 5 year contract? Only at Arsenal football club man… 😭
— Bhavs (@bhavss14) July 2, 2021
While some fans went very hard on Mikel Arteta…
William Saliba has been an Arsenal fan since childhood,despite all the negative happenings in his life, he made his dream true by joining the Arsenal,him being sent on loan again to Marseille simply shows how Mikel is a terrorist, why loan a player who proved himself at OGC Nice? pic.twitter.com/rmfTuTIwqX
— Saliba 🔴 🇵🇸 (@SalibaEra_) July 2, 2021
Mikel Arteta is sending William Saliba on loan again? Man is going to play 3 seasons on loan without playing an official game for Arsenal ffs!
You play Rob Holding but you can’t give Saliba a chance to play. Arteta is the biggest clown I’ve seen!!
— KELEWELE JOINT 🍟 (@ANKAMAGYIMI__) July 2, 2021
Arsenal must also Send Arteta out on loan to gain some experience of sending other players on loan! https://t.co/MnzHdNrY7j
— Dorn!eDorn!e (@Dornie12) July 3, 2021
I can understand both sides of the picture, the ones who support the club in their decision over Saliba and the ones who clearly don’t.
Fans should consider the fact that the Frenchman is just 20 years old. Although he looks ready to many, there are hardly any managers out there who trust defenders in their early twenties (there are few exceptions of course).
And maybe there’s a reason for it? No?
Yash Bisht
Arteta needs a loan as well to gain experience we all accept that he lacks experience and it will make more sense to loan him to a club in England to gain experience
ARTETA IS NAIVE.
ARTETA IS ARROGANT
There is no justification for this loan. for goodness sake, Arteta gave Mustafi game time. Saliba is ready.
2 Words from me ,absolutely Shocking !
When will Arteta go on loan?
It does seem odd , not the loan again but back in France . I get it that euro comp might be good for him but i would have thought a loan to cold, wet+windy Toon would be better for acclimation to the pace of prem football. Next season (22/23) once we are back in europe we will be needing the extra dc though
He should be staying with us really but if has to go on loan then it should be a premier league team or he stays. The other problem is when he returns next summer he will only have 2yrs left on his contract.
Honestly, I don’t understand Arteta at all. We bought a defender for 27m pounds. No major injury, yet we are sending him out on loan and hoping to buy White for 50m pounds. Gabriel came in straight to the team. There was no pre season for Gabriel.
Truth is Arteta is very arrogant. He does not want outspoken players. This is bad management from Arteta. Saliba is good enough to play in the first team. Saliba, Holding, Mari and Gabriel are good enough for next season. We are not playing any European competition. We just have to trust our defenders.
We need established players in attack who can score goals. Players with a special skill set. Players that are direct and can dribble. Why pay 50m for White when you can have Sergio Ramos on a free? Ramos on a 1 year contract providing leadership at the back. Our priority should be in attack and midfield.
Raheem Sterling: 50m pounds
Aouar: 30m pounds
Agree AFC. As Yash correctly stated very few 20 year old centre backs are trusted to play in the first 11 of major clubs, so this in itself is fairly normal, despite what many have written here.
But what IS both surprising and worrying is that he goes back to France. The logical next development step is an EPL club. not France again. The implication is either he is not improving or Arteta doesn’t want him.
Disappointing.
The loan is player choice, though maybe the club should have insisted on epl clubs
I can see Saliba’s contract running down and us getting peanuts or nothing for him in a couple years.
Saliba has been here how many years? Who’s fault is it he “isn’t ready?” How much responsibility does Arteta bear for Saliba not being ready during his 18 months in charge?
Why can’t he cover for Gabriel, get his chance, and Arteta start coaching Saliba into the type defender he wants?
My fear is by the time Arteta gets the sack many of our young talents will have been sold off.
Checkbook Arteta’s instinct is to buy another player. If they aren’t “perfect” in his opinion then reach for the owner’s wallet.
Somehow during Arteta’s tenure, first Guendouzi has gone down in value from £45 mill to £7 mill. Now poor William Saliba is obviously having the same trouble and not even given ONE game???? He’ll end up being given away for a pittance probably. Lucas Torreira has lost at least £10 million in value, and Granit Xhaka will leave for £15 mill. It seems we have no asset value in our players. Add to that the quality of the football we had to watch, with our own eyes, was as poor as we have ever had to watch at Arsenal……what is going on? This does not happen to any other club in the PL. It even seems players like Buendia choose lower level clubs rather than sign for us. At every level we are losing. This is REALITY? What is happening to Arsenal?
To be fair, it’s not just the current regime that struggles with valuations and sales. I think the Ox is the only sale from well over a decade where we got current or more than market value.
As I have said time, and time again, Arsenal’s problems are not recent, they have been going for years, and because of that, they have become cultural.
We need to sign Liverpool’s sale team!
Arsenal spent considerably to bring Ox before selling to Liverpool.
But, my pick for the top of bestsellers list is Iwobi. Developed in-house and sold for quite a sum beyond his talent and contribution deserved.
Ox and Iwobi fetched Arsenal a huge sum was because of two factors alone. First and foremost, they both are “homegrown”. And the second was that they were getting regular game time at Arsenal. They were groomed to bring something positive to the club. Either they could develop into potential starters at Arsenal or fetch a decent sum in transfer.
I agree with you that Arsenal’s problems are not recent and been going on for years. But, the type of problems we had back then were different to what the new regime have created recently. Despite the problems, we were able to qualify for the European competitions every season.
Under the new regime, the club not only managed to fail to qualify for Europe, but couldn’t improve the players already in our books and seeking new players through the agent driven market after disbanding our scouting team.
Would we have signed Willian under Wenger? Or would Torreira, Guendouzi and AMN have been sent out on loan after featuring regularly in the season before?
The current regime is clueless about what they are doing. And they are just trying to hide all their shortcomings by splashing the cash on players.
Seems a strange one, because if we’re not going to use him after 2 years, why another loan? Surely we’re better off selling him?
None of us will miss him, because we’ve never seen him play for us, but there sure will be questions and anger as to why he hasn’t been given a chance.
I said it a while ago, Saliba wont ever play under Arteta. The great Arteta, the one that screwed our season last season, thinks Saliba, who he didn’t sign, isn’t good enough for us. He knows what he is doing! NOT!
Because the club is letting a woefully under experienced manager make these huge decisions.
As a result you see player valuations drop as Sean Williams correctly listed.
Rather than coach up assets we already have, Arteta prefers to reach for the checkbook over a coaches Whistle.
What happens if White isn’t the “perfect” defender he believes he is? Arteta will reach for the checkbook again.
See Mari & Gabriel as an example. Despite our overflowing plethora of CB’s Arteta current shopping for his 3rd in 18 months.
Maybe he isn’t a good judge of talent; not surprising because he is still a newbie.
Question is, why such an inexperienced manager is given so much power in decision making? Based on what, hope? Certainly not based on resume or track record.
I hope the fans give Arteta a proper and continuous roasting next season when fans are allowed back in the stadium. He is behaving like a dictator and has man management skills. Saliba, Guendouzi, Martinelli, Balogan and Reiss Nelson have all been mismanaged by this fraud.
You forgot Willock!
Willock salvaged some of his reputation by going out on loan to Newcastle United and set their stadium alight with his performances. Not one Geordie fan will say anything against the lad, if their club is to make him their most expensive signing and the best paid player in the squad in this summer transfer window.
It does make little sense to any football fan to be honest, but I will keep my complains to the end of the first 10 EPL matches.
If we managed to get decent result, then we should just support the club and leave the people responsible do the internal work.
If they failed 1st 10 matches, then I hope they kick Arteta out.
Quite frankly he is acting as if he has 3 champions league and 3 EPL titles in his resume. I hope I am wrong.
I think WS chose Marseille for a reason, he clearly wants to continue his career in his homeland and is intent on putting his talents on display for the french cubs to see his progress. As for Arsenal, having him in their long term plans is all well and good but,…. what is ‘his’ long term plans??? We read how he refuses to go on loan to Lorient because of how they handled his loan attempt last year, which says to me he does not easily forgive, or forget, so ask yourselves, “What is his thoughts about his treatment at Arsenal ?” One thing we do know from all the reports is, at the very least, he isn’t impressed.
What was the point of paying a hefty sum for a player and the send him on loan year after year? What a waste. The amount of money that has been wasted since Wenger was sacked beggars belief. Fans keep saying Kreonke is stingy. It is his lack of involvement in the day to day running of the club that allows this gross mismanagement of resources. Arteta thinks he can just ditch players he does not like and buy new ones.
Arteta’s arrogance and inexperience will cause Arsenal to lose majority of the young talents on the cheap to other teams, which will come back to hunt the club. I think the way he has handled Nelson, Saliba, Bolagun, Willock and Martinelli is a cause for concern. These talented youngsters need play time to gain experience and develop their potential, but, Arteta has shown no confidence in them, thus, his refusal to trust them in premier league matches. Arsenal should appoint Steve Bruce as head coach, if Arsenal have a poor start, after the first six matches of the season. A true coach should be able to improve players that the club has. Both Arteta and Edu would have been sacked ,if they were at any other top six teams. Owners need to be ruthless and send them packing.