Arsenal signed William Saliba from Saint Etienne last season because they believed that the defender was good enough to play for them.
However, they allowed him to remain with the French side for another season, and continue his development.
Despite struggling with injuries this season, the Frenchman was an important player for Saint Etienne and he even helped them reached the final of a French Cup before their season was cancelled.
He has gained more experience at the French side like Arsenal wanted, however, the Gunners have struggled at the back this season and they could have made use of his talents to solve some of their defensive problems, this is the view of Martin Keown.
The former Arsenal star claimed that if he was top class as they claim, why did they send him back on loan when there are defensive jobs to be done at the Emirates.
“There’s an awful lot of work to be done in there [defence],” he told talkSPORT as quoted in the Mirror, “There was the defender from Saint-Etienne William Saliba who they paid £27 million for but was loaned back again.
“I couldn’t quite work that out because now I’m being told he’s world-class.
“Never mind if he’s world-class, if he was Premier League class it would have been good enough because that was an area of concern.”
