Martin Keown is struggling to understand Arsenal’s decision on William Saliba as the Gunners get set to send the French youngster out on loan again.
Saliba was signed by the Gunners last summer as they looked to bring him in to solve their defensive problems.
They allowed him to remain at Saint Etienne on loan for the rest of last season despite having problems in their defence.
The Gunners brought him back this summer and fans were keen to see him in action for the club.
They also signed Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille who was expected to be his long-term partner at the Emirates.
While Gabriel has started to play for the Gunners and he has been in fine form for the club, Saliba is set to move out on loan, having made no appearances for the club.
Keown is struggling to understand the mystery behind the player’s time at the Emirates.
“It’s bizarre. We’ve just not seen the kid,” Keown told talkSPORT as quoted by Football 365. “You want to see him to see how he performs say in the Championship to see if he’s good enough.
“I’m anxious to see. The feeling was that this was going to be the one. Gabriel has come in and been an outstanding signing.
“Maybe they feel he’s too young and want him to go out to pastures new. To then loan him out when there was a real problem there last season seems a real mystery.”
Arteta does.not rate most of our young players highly. Gouendouzi, Seliba, and Martinelli are those players who were bought by Unai Emery. Maybe he want to prove a point. Its also a mystery to me. I really don’t understand
You are not alone Martin, I still don’t understand why we have to pay 30miilion for a defender on a 5years contract and not at least play him in the carabao cup.
Hasn’t there been a U turn and Saliba is now staying with us until at least January?
Why is he struggling to understand that we still have Sockratis, Mustafi, Luis, Holding and Chamber at the club. I too want the boy to play but without two or three of the above players out of the club there is space for the at the moment. One can argue why him and not Gabriel. Only Arteta can answer that.
Maybe saliba’s bottle has gone
I also heard Saliba is staying till January. Maybe MA wants to see him play and than decide in January whom he will send out on loan amongst Saliba, Socrates, Holding and Chambers.
Central defender is such a crucial position that any mistakes often lead to goals and general criticism that could shatter a young players confidence. It happened with Adams after playing for the first team at such a young age before he was able to recover to be the player that he was. I wouldn’t like this to happen to Saliba with all our expectations for him to lead our defence for years to come. Known is right though, no point in going back to France. Take it gradually and a loan to a Championship side might be just what he needs for an introduction to English football.
I don’t see it as such a big deal. Of our next 19 matches before the window reopens, Saliba is ineligible for just 6 of them.
Compare that to sokratis and ozil who are eligible for just 1. Assuming that is they are the 2 players left out of the EPL squad.
Who knows MA might just throw both players a carrot by leaving out 2 different players from the EPL squad. He could choose to leave out for example any of Runarsson, Soares, Mustafi or Kolasinac meaning they could all play in Europe and the Carabao cup (7 matches) but be in eligible for the next 12 league matches. Let’s face it all have at least 1 player ahead of them in the pecking order and in some cases 2 or 3.
Right, you should ALL read this comment so you can learn to understand things more openly.
Saliba has potential, IF anyone actually though a 19 year old, with 0 premier league football experience, played 12 games last season due to injury and cornoa cancelling the french league, are incredibly naive.
It was never going to happen, not right now. There are not many defenders, especially at CB in the premier league, for a top 6 club under 20 years old that have done that in the last 20+ years.
As for Topgunner’s comment, you are totally wrong on all you said.
We know you hate MA but to say things that there is 0 evidence of is pathetic.
Martinelli is injured, probably wont play until March at the earliest. Didn’t Martinelli also sign a new contract after MA took over??
MG is disruptive, arrogant and and bone headed due to immaturity ( i hope ) and those types of disruptions need to be moved out asap.
Saliba is also different aswel, MA has seen him train since around june? Do we not have 8 CB’s at the club at the moment who all have premier league experience and can we actually further his development at the club this season? I dont think so.
None of those reasons imo mean MA doesnt rate those 3 players one bit