Mikael Silvestre insists that Arsenal has a ready-made player when it comes to William Saliba.
Arsenal signed the 18-year-old Saliba last summer before sending him back on loan to Saint Etienne so that he can continue his development.
He has continued impressing in the French side and he is expected to become an important player at the Emirates when he joins Arsenal in the summer.
Some fans think that he should be sent out on loan again so that he can become even more developed, but former Arsenal defender, Mikael Silvestre has claimed that there would be no need for that and he has backed the defender to break into the team and earn a spot.
He said as quoted in Goal: “William Saliba will start from the get-go when he joins Arsenal next season. He’s currently playing for a struggling Saint-Etienne side, but his performances have been good, and he’s been consistent.
“Defensively he’s strong so he’ll be looking to impress in pre-season. He’ll need to adapt in that period, but he has enough time to learn from the Arsenal staff and players. He’s still very young but has great experience from his time in Ligue 1.
“He’ll continue to learn from the current centre-backs, but he’ll have a big part to play from day one.”
Saliba is a definite welcome addition to the squad and hopefully, he is good enough to be able to walk straight into the team but I suspect that he will take some time to bed in. The Premier League is a far more intense league than Ligue 1 and it is not always an easy transition. Just ask Nicolas Pepe.
