Every Arsenal fan is more than aware of the strange situation that has arisen since William Saliba’s arrival from St. Etienne last summer, with Mikel Arteta refusing to even put him in Arsenal’s Europa League side.
The fact is that Saliba hadn’t played football for six months upon his arrival, and Arteta obviously thought he wasn’t ready, but ever since Saliba was sent back to France to join Nice on loan, he seems to be doing very little but talking about how Arteta didn’t give him a chance.
His latest interview on RMC’s ‘Top of the Foot’ show (as transcribed by the Mirror) has Saliba criticising Arteta once again: “It is clear that so much has changed in the last year. When I saw that the coach changed a lot changed for me too.
“In this year there has been a lot of change. He judged me on two-and-a-half matches. I would have liked for him to play me more. But he told me I wasn’t ready.
“I was waiting for him to give me a chance, but football is like that.
“When I initially came to Arsenal the league looked very good so I showed up to training and wanted to train on my own to show the coach I was ready.
“I am happy now, I want to play for Nice. The idea when you’re part of a team is a better feeling for me.”
Arteta has already been given a lot of flak and even agreed that he should have put Saliba in the Europa League squad, but Arteta did not publicly criticize Saliba (say for not learning English after a year {fact} or staying fit in lockdown {my guess] and the fans were kept in the dark about the whole situation until Arteta explained when Saliba went on loan: “We signed a big project that we had some issues with because he hasn’t played enough football in the last eighteen months.
“At that age and in the development phase he is at, that is crucial.
“And I was very conscious when he came back, when he didn’t do the step that he had to do before joining us that to start a relationship with a new manager, with a new club, with new team-mates in a situation where he is not having any game time it’s really difficult and I think it’s really damaging for the future.”
But Saliba has gone completely the other way and is criticizing Arteta every chance he gets. That is not acting like a professional (who is still employed by Arsenal) and Mikel Arteta is not likely to respond to the youngster’s utterances in public, which is as it should be.
Should Saliba just shut up and simply doing his talking on the pitch?
Relationship is broken. Doubt we’ll ever see them both at Arsenal at the same time.
Will likely be a waiting game to see who lasts longest.
Arteta made a massive mistake with Saliba. You have to be out of your mind not to register the lad for the Europa League.
Saliba has every right to behave as he does. He was betrayed by his manager. Arteta should be a bigger man, swallow his pride, and let these comments pass him by (and it rhymes :D)
Otherwise, we’ll lose a top CB because of Arteta.
Agree OG.
O.K.
I know we wanted to sign a “ball playing” centre back, but now some dodgy old video involving Saliba has been dredged up and
is doing the rounds
Something else for the club to handle.
Anything else in the life of an Arsenal fan !?1?
Yes sir that’s the new way people should just shut up and move on.
He earned the right to talk and it’s good for his mental health. They handled his situation badly. To keep him in limbo while he was grieving was wrong. He needed to be playing competitively. It’s Arteta’s fault.
Let him shut d hell up n concentrate on his football.If he proves to be very good,let Arteta n Edu grieve over that
First of all i would like to say that Saliba hasn’t been moaning about MA and Arsenal,the people translating his interviews are not only doing a bad job but they are using only parts of what he says and using them out of context secondly everytime he is asked questions by journalists they are all about his time at Arsenal &Arteta nothing else if he is guilty of something it’s being naive i listened to his interviews when asked questions he is just giving his side of the story i agree he shouldn’t be giving that many interviews his representatives are not doing a very good job,his latest interview by phone with a French radio show which is the equivalent of talksport these French radio hosts are no different to the British ones looking for a scoop playing to the audience..they were bombarding him with question about the same things Arsenal&MA they were trying to catch him off guard to get him to say bad things about MA but to his credit didn’t fall for it he was only telling how he felt about the situation the guy needs better advisers.
Correct.
Correct. I am a French speaker and read the full interview in French and nowhere in it does Saliba call Arteta out in a disrespectful manner if at all. I found the entire interview quite frank and candid but nowhere does he blast MA for anything. Yes, he did say his impression was that he was judged after two and a half games. That’s about all.
👍
I am beginning to wonder if Saliba is indeed the mole in the camp?
Certainly has a bit too much to say for a teenager, seems like another Guendozi.
He is good and performing well at Nice. he should be given more opportunity to shine in arsenal
Another non-news article. I would rather read fewer but more meaningful pieces than some of the irrelevant gossip being trotted out – please don’t let the site become another “Football London”, as life’s too short to sift through articles like this.
As I said on the previous three occasions it was written about – Saliba has a genuine grievance, he’s not exactly slandering Arteta or the club. Freedom of Speech, anyone?
Freedom of speech, guy? If only such a valuable thing was upheld by all, instead of only a reflective few of us who realise its vital importance!
@ guy Does that include my freedom to decide what articles go on my website?
Must admit Guy, Admin Pats’ comment also crossed my mind.
The last 4 words seems at odds with the rest of your comment.
Freedom of speech indeed. Arteta was free to talk about Saliba, saying he wasn’t ready, discussing his mental state after losing his mother, etc…. Did Arteta say too much? Was all that necessary?
Saliba free to explain his side of things. I don’t see him being overly critical of Arteta, merely felt he was prematurely judged on such a small sample size.
IMHO no problem here, Arteta stated his opinion, and Saliba gave his opinion in response, all normal courses of action from a young player and young manager.
I hope both player and manager learn from this, and Saliba comes back to play for Arsenal. It would be a travesty to lose out on such a young talent over nonsense.
The one eye deserve every negative criticism his getting regards WL, because it was extremely poor of him not to even use Saliba in the Europe group stages or League cup.
I don’t buy the one eye excuse that Saliba was not ready. Wenger and even Emery gave a lot of new unknown youngster they first starts in the EC and LC. If I am not wrong the one eye only give Runarsson a start this season (but he had not choice he was the only back-up keeper), he had a talent Balogun, but fails to give him a start in any small game, just 3 or 4 appearance from the bench.
I totally understand Saliba stand on the one eye, things like this can destroy a youngster’s career. That fact that he is taking this stand show how confident is he about his game.
The school of blindness have wrong again, Saliba is not the one who should fever for this future, the one eye should fever for his future, he is the one who is not preforming. Saliba is currently doing well on the pitch and he will play for a big club next season Arsenal or not.
If I have to put money on who will not be at Arsenal next season that I will put a lot of money on the one eye. The only thing that is currently saving him or will save him in the future is the fact that Arsenal doesn’t have money to replace him.
Well said Siamois.It’s so easy for journalists and broadcasters to manipulate young players into dark corners.At the end of the day I hope he will go on to prove himself on the EPL stage which is far more demanding than where he is appearing at present.
Saliba is right, he has been ready to play for Arsenal for a year, and then he gets to be told that he is not ready yet. Look at the old, tired and erratic players at the back that causes us to always play one player less all the time because they are lazy, and let an energetic young player to go, it is frustrating. Arteta is the cause of this.
The one who is not ready is Arteta.
Good on him I say. I like attitude. Arteta certainly has issues with some personality types, so why shouldn’t Saliba feel hard done by for not getting a look in. Mind you Arteta seems the type to carry a grudge, which won’t help Saliba’s Arsenal career. Hopefully it won’t be the club who lose out on another good player.
I don’t know what is wrong with these kids, Guenduzi, Saliba, Ainsley Joe, they should learn humility & perseverance, focus on their growth and development instead of acting bigger than the club, we have seen them play & have also seen Saka, ESR, Tierney & Martinelli play, you be the judge.