Arsenal loanee William Saliba is being tipped to leave on another loan deal for next season, but only if he signs a new contract in north London first.
The defender was signed from St Etienne back in the summer of 2019 before being loaned back to the same club for the season that followed. After the Coronavirus outbreak, the French division ended early that year and the youngster trained with his parent club, but was unable to make waves.
Despite staying with the club from the start of the 202-21 season, he remained with the reserves until being allowed to return to France with Nice for the second-half of the campaign, before following Matteo Guendouzi to Marseille to play out the entirety of this term, playing almost every minute of their season.
While many are tipping next season to be his chance to challenge for a place in the Arsenal team, Jeunes Footeux claims that he could well be allowed to leave again. The report claims that he would need to sign a new contract in order to be allowed to leave however, with just two years remaining on his current deal come the summer.
Personally, a new contract should be on the horizon regardless of whether he is leaving on another loan deal or not. Allowing players to enter into the final 24 months of his deal isn’t good practice, especially for a young player with as much potential as Saliba.
As for keeping him or allowing him to leave once again is concerned, I’m dreading that every year that goes by, he will grow unattached to our club, and with many believing he is good enough for a first-team role now, it makes little sense to send him away again without at least giving him the pre-season to stake his claim for a role.
Do you think we should allow Saliba to continue enjoying his football elsewhere or will we end up damaging our relationship with the defender?
Patrick