Arsenal fans are in mixed emotions when it comes to William Saliba, but The Power Coach Nicolas St-Maurice has given a positive update on his mentality and progress.
We have been waiting two years to see our young signing make his senior debut following his signing from St Etienne in 2019, and it remains to be seen whether that time will come next season either.
The initial deal to bring him to the Emirates including a 12-month stay with his former side St Etienne, but that season remained incomplete following the Coronavirus pandemic.
Saliba stayed with the club for six months into the 2020-21 season, only to be left in the Under-23 side, and eventually left to join Nice for the remainder of their Ligue 1 campaign.
Once again, he has been allowed to leave to join Marseille on another loan for the current term, but St-Maurice doesn’t believe that is a bad thing, claiming that he isn’t willing to sit on the bench at this point in his career, and adding that he has the right mentality and focus to make it with Arsenal.
“He’s a very nice guy, very hard working,” The Power Coach told in an exclusive interview with Football.London. “We worked on a number of things such as speed, power, you know he’s a big guy also and he’s strong. When you’re so young and you’re big and strong you aren’t as quick as the smaller guys. We worked a bit on that and he did really well.
“When I first saw him I thought of Van Dijk because of his positions of plays and he has the right potential to make it far. I know a lot of young players I can see that some get distracted when they come to Dubai but he was working hard and he’s got the right environment. William is humble.
“Arsenal fans are annoyed right now because he’s not at the club and he’s doing really well in Marseille but I think last season he missed some games on top of COVID. Saliba needs to play more and he will come good. He does not want to come to Arsenal and sit on the bench – that’s not his mentality. He wants to be playing for Arsenal. I think next season he will make a solid case for himself.”
This is a very positive insight into William Saliba in my opinion, and I’m much more excited about seeing what we should expect from him in the coming years, with that feeling having dulled over uncertainty regarding his continued loan spells away from the club.
Patrick