Arsenal hold crunch talks with William Saliba; What will be the outcome?
William Saliba’s agent has already had crunch talks with the Arsenal board on Tuesday evening.
The 20-year-old defender is set to miss the pre-season with the team, due to his participation in Olympics for France.
Sources close to Saliba have told Football.London that Saliba’s agent and Arsenal are ‘assessing what is best’ for the defender ahead of the new season.
The French defender made the switch to North London in 2019, for an astonishing fee of close to £30million for a teenager.
Although Arsenal won the race, ahead of European heavyweights such as Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotsp*r and Manchester United, they haven’t given him a single chance in the first team.
The young defender was loaned out for two successive seasons, and with Ben White’s arrival from Brighton looking imminent, it might just well turn out to be a third year out on loan.
Saliba, who grew up as an Arsenal fan, would clearly had not made the move to the Gunners two years back if he had foreseen things.
What was the reason behind him not making it to the Europa League squad of Arsenal, when his loan move failed to materialize? Meanwhile Shkodran Mustafi was handed the Europa League minutes, and talks of a fresh deal for the German were also held.
Are you taking the p*ss, Arsenal? Really?
At 20 years of age, there are hardly any better central defenders than Saliba. Although I understand the other side of the coin, that he was “not ready,” but same can be said of the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
He’s had zero work experience as a coach/manager before joining Arsenal. If the Gunners were not reluctant to appoint a rookie manager in Arteta, then why are they hell-bent on not giving Saliba a few minutes here and there.
A third year out on loan would be a punch on the guts for Saliba. I would rather keep the former St. Etienne man as a third choice centerback, than offloading him again on temporary basis.
With him being a direct back up for Gabriel as well as Ben White, the French U20 International can end up featuring in several matches, come the end of the next campaign.
Having three good centerbacks is what Arsenal should aspire for. And they already have that.
Although Arteta appreciates Rob Holding, selling him makes the most sense. The former Bolton man can be sold on for a great profit, due to the fact that penned a new deal at the Emirates Stadium early this year + the usual English tax.
I would not entertain anything apart from Saliba staying put in North London for next season. The Frenchman is still regarded highly, and wanted by around a dozen clubs across Europe.
And there’s a reason behind it: he’s special.
I couldn’t agree more Yash but knowing Arsenal and Arteta, taking a cue from the sale of Martinez Last season, I wouldn’t be surprised if Saliba was sold this transfer window. Hopefully he stays but, with Arsenal you can only hope for the best and expect the worst.
Holding was our best CB last year. And is a homegrown player, of which we don’t have many. We’ll have fewer if Bellerin, Guendouzi, Willock, and Nelson leave.
Home ground nonsense. It’s not to have a home ground player that his country has not selected him.
Play saliba bench holding. His not better than saliba nor gabriel, so just pair those two saliba and Gabriel and spend the money on middlefielder I don’t see why we need another defender
Pair saliba and Gabriel forget white bro
That 50m can buy you a good middlefielder like Phillips or even neves
So spend that 50m on a good middlefielder stop chasing Ben white we don’t need him.
You can even add that 50m to that 50m you wanna use for Ben white and sign grealish or Madison.
• Saliba is 4times upgrade of Holdings
• sell Holdings , Xaka and Belerin
• keep Saliba & Chambers
• keep Smith Rowe
• sell Willock & Niles
• William must be offloaded
• don’t sell Laca but sell Nketiah
• keep Guengdouz
Henry, why would you recommend selling Joe Willock?
In 15 games for Newcastle United under Steve Bruce, Joe Willock scored 8 goals, more than the whole Arsenal midfield scored in two seasons. When Thomas Partey is at Afcon, Joe Willock will be an able replacement, even if he doesn’t break into the matchday squad. Arsenal need competent covers for all positions and Willock fits the bill.
Based on all the games I saw last season, Gabriel is not superior to Holding.Indeed be may yet be added to the list of mediocre centre backs we have signed over the past decade although I hope he proves me wrong.
@Davic, I couldn’t agree with you more. Arteta and Edu are about to waste precious money on getting a player we don’t need right now. What we need are CMF’s and a RB. It is a real pity that the people employed to take our club in a positive direction seem really clueless.
when MA is challenged, he likes to show authority and makes sure no one can dispute his decision
Isn’t it what”elementary” schoolteachers do?
Sell him or bring him back. It’s really unfair on him and his career to loan him out for a 3rd time.
If he gets his chance I’m sure he’ll shine. MA probably doesn’t want to show he made a mistake, his ego wouldn’t like that.
Play the kid!
I find it so sad that a young quality player is treated as an outsider. We paid, allegedly, £27 million for him. Give him a game. We supporters need to see him. I have never seen another management team create so much of a hullaballo over certain players….never. If it happened at the Spuds I would be laughing my head off. There is definitely something unnatural in the way some players are treated at our club, and it is not very nice to see.
Saliba will stay definitely. We might end up using three central defenders in saliba, white & Gabriel..
Keep Sali I, it will be in the interest of the club to do so. Look at Martinez, The Ox, better where they are now. Is MA unsure of his coaching abilities, coach the young man into what you want him to be. Or is Salibi uncoachable. Forget a 1x yr shine. Let’s play for 2.
I would very much like to see him play for arsenal
We payed a lot of money out for him please let us
Him play
Another “moron de jour” writing articles on this site.
In my view Rob Holding is better than Gabrielle and Mari, and probably just as good as Ben White.
I would rather let Saliba play, NOT buy Ben White, and spend the Ben White money buying Bissouma instead (probably a cheaper option).
Note: England are defending with Rice and Phillips in midfield, to protect the defense. They have 4 clean sheets so far in the Euros.
Playing Partey and Bissouma should offer similar protection for the Arsenal defense..
• despite game time given, Rob is still very
“Cruide” with that expected rigidity around
his play
• I dont see the value of Mari and yet MA trusts
him more than Saliba
• Saliba should stay & White should come
• a strong squad is composed of many good
players giving each other competion
MA is been praised for making Sterling a player he is now and why cant he use that brain to bring Saliba in to the way he MA want?.
Problem with Saliba, he kept running his mouth in the media trying to paint the manager bad. That was a major concern. He probably fell out of favor. But that’s what you get if you are I’ll disciplined. He probably thought the manager won’t be around next season. Not a lot to cry about. Some people like to overhype players, once they come to the Premier League it is a different ball game. I wouldn’t be crying over Saliba. Also, the writer of this article states that Arteta has zero experience. Last time I checked you gain experience by learning on the job. I think he did that at Man City. And the fact that he is instilling discipline in the team is just awesome.
Dboy, evidence please, that Saliba has bad mouthed Mikel Arteta?
Given the physicality of the CB position and the propensity for Arsenal CB’s to incur injury, (some long term Koscielny and Holding being recent examples), Arsenal needs to retain 6 CB’s. This is particularly the case when two, White and Chambers have the ability to adequately cover other positions, (in their cases RB and DM).
Arsenal don’t want to be caught short on quantity or quality. Not retaining William Saliba would be a major mistake.
Saliba should be tried for a season at least considering the amount we paid for him and also considering so many clubs want to sign him. That said, however one cannot undermine Holding because he has stood his ground in the PL and has given us consistent performances. If we have all the defenders we had last season and Saliba, no need to go for Ben White, use the money to invest in a proper DM, CAM and a striker. Many times, a good attack is the best form of defence plus it gives you goals for cushion meaning the opposition has to come out to score leaving gaps in their defence enabling us to score more. AS much as defence is important, creativity and a good attack is also crucial.
Agree, keep Saliba use him to challenge for Gabriel and Holding’s partnership. and I believe Saliba is a better CB compared to gabriel.
Ben White, to me he is redundant. Use the 50mio for good midfielder.
i dont mind Renato.
Man, how arsenal fans assume MA does not like Saliba is beyond me. Did you guys know that Saliba was meant to go to Rennes on loan but they were chasing Daniel Rugani instead. Saliba held out and rejected other proposals. This is what MA was referring to when he said he was frustrated with how the Saliba situation went. If there is any player MA clearly does not like in this arsenal squad, it is guendouzi and its very easy to see why. I think Ben white is coming in as a right back and not a CB. I dont think he is coming in to replace Saliba. If there is any CB that is leaving, its Mavropanos. Dont worry guys, Saliba isnt going anywhere, so long as he understands he is not going to be a guaranteed starter and MUST fight for his place just like everyone else.