William Saliba was seen by many Arsenal supporters to be our new defensive star this season, alongside Gabriel Magalhaes, but his arrival quickly fell flat as he was left out of Arsenal’s Europa League squad and is yet to feature for the Gunners in the Premier League, despite Arteta having hardly any fit defenders to choose from.
A few days ago, Arteta hinted that the youngster was integrating himself into the Arsenal squad, when he was asked by the Mail about Saliba. ‘Yes, he’s in a much better place,’
‘He’s feeling a lot more confident around the place, his language is improving and he’s starting to understand much better what we’re doing physically.
‘He’s played a few games with the under-23s which he needed because he didn’t play any football in the last seven or eight months. Things are progressively getting better and better.’
But now ButFootballClub.fr are reporting that the 19 year-old is fed up with his lack of game time and is desperate to return to St. Etienne in January. Their report says: “Saliba had to settle for a match with the U23 against the Liverpool reserves (0-1). Meanwhile Arteta had to deal with four central defenders being absent at Old Trafford: David Luiz, Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari and Rob Holding.
“Tired of his situation, Saliba would increasingly consider a new loan to ASSE, according to our information, he who was refused to be loaned to the Championship last month. And the interest is mutual. The managers of Saint-Etienne, very disappointed not to have been able to validate the player’s loan at the beginning of October, on the last day of the Transfer window, hold the France U20 international in high esteem, who was ready to cut his salary by half to wear the colors again. of his training club. Departure postponed?”
I can understand Arteta wanting to give Saliba time to find his form after 7 months of not playing, but as he has had a few months on training pitch, I can also understand that Saliba must be getting frustrated as well, especially with the dire injury problems with the Arsenal defence.
Who thinks that Arteta would allow him to go back to France to get some game time and get his form and fitness honed again?