The Saliba saga – by Dan Smith
So, most of the weekend’s headlines will be based on the debut of Haaland at Man City.
Quietly on Friday night William Saliba was making his own first appearance in English Football.
His was more bizarre as it came 3 years after he officially became a Gunner.
It’s understandable that a 19-year-old might need time to adjust to the physical nature of the Premier League, yet how he played at Selhurst Park does beg the question why it took him so long for Arsenal to trust him.
Crystal Palace play in a manner where they are direct, where their attackers like to take on their man and dribble past you. It means a defender has to focus at all times, watching the ball and getting every tackle and block timed to perfection, or else you give away a penalty.
The Gunners often use the loan market as part of a youngster’s development. That’s why he stayed for a season at Saint Etienne after giving them 27 million in 2019.
He got the club to the Coupe De France Final, impressed at Nice and while helping Marseille return to the Champions League, was honoured as part of the division’s team of the year and the country’s best young player.
In other words, from a footballing point of view he more than proved in France he was good enough to get in one of the worst Arsenal squads in a quarter of a century.
Arteta even admitted regret at not registering the player for the 2020-21 campaign, essentially paying the centre back to sit at home and do nothing when a move to the Championship fell through.
It seemed bizarre that we were forced to play first team defenders in the Europa League group stage when an asset close to 30 million was laying on his settee.
I stress ‘footballing point of view’ because the club might argue it was the player’s welfare they were prioritising.
COVID meant that Ligue 1 was postponed meaning the then teenager missed months of action at the same time as losing both of his parents.
His employer’s point of view was that, instead of adjusting to a new country with strangers, he would be better in his homeland with friends and family.
Communication seemed an issue though.
Either the man himself disagreed or no one bothered to sit him down and explain.
Saliba said enough during this spell to indicate he didn’t agree with his boss’s assessment.
This only intensified when he was capped by France which increased his reputation with his national media which was already huge.
It seemed odd that the World Champions would trust him to play 5 times for them at the same time there was zero European football in North London for the first time in 25 years.
Marseille’s president was more than happy to stir the pot, making it clear they were happy to step in if Saliba remained overlooked at the Emirates and even putting out the notion that the player’s preference was not to go back.
Our manager hasn’t been shy in discarding talent if they don’t fit into his ethos or has attitudes that go against his values.
Even from a business perspective, we essentially gave Ozil, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Mustafi and Aubameyang away while Guendouzi was sold for a cut price.
The same might still happen regarding Bellerin and Torreira.
It would have been an embarrassment to the Spaniard had we paid 27 million for an asset, just to let him play for three other clubs, and then sold him.
Especially if he then played elsewhere like he did against the Eagles.
Of course, we don’t truly know what version of Saliba we would have got had he played for us sooner.
Maybe homesickness would have been a factor?
Maybe it would have been his home comforts that meant he could do what he did in France?
Good things are worth the wait.
Whether it should have been sooner we can debate forever.
At last though we can say, welcome to Arsenal, Saliba.
Dan
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Arteta would have liked a couple more goals against Palace. Wouldn’t we all!