Ian Wright says Edu and Mikel Arteta deserve credit for how they have handled the career of William Saliba so far as the defender returned to the club in style.
He was in stunning form while on loan at Olympique Marseille in the last campaign and returned to star for the Gunners in their last match against Crystal Palace.
He defended classily and rarely put a foot wrong in the entire match.
This made him an instant hit with football fans who sang his praise even on social media.
The Frenchman has been on the books of Arsenal since 2019, but that was his first appearance for them.
Many fans and pundits faulted the decision to send him out on loan, but Wright believes it was for the best.
He said, as quoted by Football365: “Mikel and Edu have got to take a lot of credit for what they’ve done with this guy.
“This guy is someone we’ve always thought would be special. Even when they sent him out on loan there were fans calling for him to come back. He’s a full international now, he looks composed, calm, he’s got great pace.
“It’s a decision that was magnificent from Arsenal. It would have been easy to bring him back last year but they gave him the extra season and now he looks like he’s been playing in that position for years.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
It seemed like a clear show of lack of confidence when Mikel Arteta didn’t even give Saliba a chance to play for Arsenal before sending him out on loan.
The defender has now returned to prove he can do the job. The most important thing now is that he is still on our books.
The next step is to get him to sign a new deal.
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A happy Arteta would have liked a couple more goals against Palace. Wouldn’t we all!
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What is incredible with this kid is that he’s already one of the best defender in the League at only 21…..As is Tierny (if he overcomes his injury problemes) Gabriel is also a rock so is Tomiyasu and B.White…..Arteta has build a very strong défense and UP front Saka is terrorising teams already at 20!!!…..BUT are WE gona keep this players together for years to come ?!!That’s the question
One game and he’s already one of the best defenders in the league? We were all impressed with his debut but I think you need to reign it in a bit!
I am not overhyping him dear GB….The boy was a top prospect in Europe years ago and he is proving evreyone right by winning the best young player award in France last year and by his performances with Arsenal of late…..You missed m’y point my Friend are WE gonna keep this génération of talented player built by Arteta together or will it be a Fabregas/Nasri all over again?!
Actually, you are missing the point. Saliba has the potential to be one of the best defenders in the PL.
He has had one very good game but a true judgement can only be made over the course of a season.
Top player
The person who should be praised for nurturing Saliba’s talent, is Sampaoli. No one else. Arteta and Edu simply sent him out on loan. Same as they did with many other players…IJS
True, the decision to loan him is one issue, the manager who developed him is another.
Let’s remember Saliba argued for Marseille while Arteta and Edu argued for Championship team.
If Arteta and Edu believed he needed a bit of sharpening and polish still, fair ay to them.
However, Sampaoli deserves more credit for how he improved Saliba and how prepared he was for the PL.
Where is the credit for Emery and company for signing him in the first place? Was it Sven or Raul?
At all cost let’s avoid any praise for our own manager.
It would be a disaster.
Exactly. The usual suspects above doing their endless anti-Arteta act – it’s tiresome. With supporters like them, who needs enemies?
Anyone in favour of an Ignore button?
Can we please move on from Arteta didn’t give him a chance last season?
The past is the past, at least Saliba has proven he’s ready and Arteta is giving him the game time he deserves.
Even Arteta admitted his mistake in the way he handled the situation. He had the chance to call him back but decided to allow him finish his loan in France.
Saliba is good, yes he’s. He’s our player as we have other players who deserves to be given attention as well.
What about zinchenco with the assist? What about the effect of the substitution that lead to the second goal? All the players contributed to the success of the game. Moreso, if we all believe in the ability of Saliba, why are we making it a big deal? As if we didn’t expect him to be that good.
This past few days have seen a lot of comments being pointed to saliba with majority being impressed by his debut, however I really hope he can keep this form as we all are aware how good he has been during in loan spell.
He’s still young and will make mistakes but at the same time he will surely improve game by game.
I am convinced the loan was the right call, but should have had his debut right before then.
However giving credit to Arteta and Edu for how saliba turned out is a bit overreaching.
Like someone said, he wasn’t the only one that went on loan. If that is the case every player that went on loan and came back should fall into the same thing.
Why select saliba alone and live the other players when he wasn’t only they player that went on loan ?
As far as we are concerned, the loan have helped him a lot , but the hard work was done by someone else.
@Kaay
RealTalk…Spot on.
IW probably knows more about how this works than the average supporter (I use the term loosely, some around here don’t seem to do much actual supporting).
Managers are in frequent touch with players on loan, they conduct formal reviews – providing lots of feedback, support, advice, suggestions. They are in touch with the club benefitting from the loan to discuss plans, roles, positions etc.
People seem to think they just hand the guy over and hope to get something better in a year’s time. Credit where credit’s due – IW is right, Arsenal’s coaching staff deserve some!!!
@IdkwIc
You’re a bit naïve as well as delusional, if you think that Sampaoli was taking orders or tips on how to nurture Saliba from AFC coaching staff…IJS
NY Gunner @
Cmon mate this is all down to Arteta .
Credit where credits due 🤔😂
@Dan Kit
My bad. I forgot about “the process”…
Great point, as if Arsenal influenced when, where, or how Saliba played. Sampaoli and Marseille finished 2nd and qualified for the CL.
Also he was young player of the year in the league, called up to French national team as well. Don’t think Sampaoli needed any advice from Arteta.
Especially when it comes to qualifying for the CL, after how we ended last year.
But it’s highly unlikely that Saliba was just dropped off with his suitcase and collected a year later
Every club monitors the progress of the players they have out on loan.
How much direct input they will have in any given player’s development will undoubtedly vary and we cannot determine this unless directly involved or we have truly credible sources.
Some of the viewpoints and debating positions demonstrate quite rigid, binary thinking.
IW is right I support as people were thinking if Arteta did not sent him on loan because he had no confidence in him to perform to the level he wanted, if he had left him to be sitting on the bench waiting for unexpected he could have be routing on our bench last season with no playing time. So credit to Arteta, his team, Saliba and O.M
We need tilesman or paqueta make it happens please please we as ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB FANS please make it sure it happens (tilesman or paqueta) we really need them both so much to strengthen our ARSENAL F.C SQUAD COME 2022/23 !!!!! DO SOMETHINGS TO THREATEN OUR RIVAL,WARN THEN FOR 2022/23 SEASON AND IF I’M SURE WE WILL FINISH BE THE CHAMPIONS OR 2,3 OR 4 I’m for sure if we do!!!????!!!!!+
Kaay
A loan is per defenition a learning curve destined to make a player better and knowingly done by his club ,which means,in our case, Arteta.So if he becomes stronger that means that it was the right décision to send him wherever he was sent and it produced precisely what was the boss was looking for!!!
If you check my comment you will see that I have no problem with the loan. I see it as the right call.
However according to your claim, should we blame Arteta for the players that their loan wasn’t successful?? Since we want to give him the credit for the successful loans of other player ??
nice one for mikiel arteta and Edu the are doing a good job
i love Arsenal for rever and ever
No MARTIN, it “did NOT seem like a clear show lack of confidence at all” Not a bit of it!
What it actually WAS, was a mature, sensible and wise decison by MA to let this fast maturing,still very young man, a monster of a player, to get the vitally needed match experience that he would not have got had he stayed at Arsenal, instead of being loaned.
MA knew he was not then ready, esp for the ultra tough Prem of all leagues, though he certainly is NOW.
IF YOU HAVE AN AGENDA AGAINST MA AND ARE AGAINST EVERY SINGLE DECISION HE EVER MADE OR MAKES , THEN OF COURSE YOU WILL FAIL TO SEE HIS TOP QUALITY AS A MAN MANAGER.
“ MA knew he was not then ready, esp for the ultra tough Prem of all leagues, though he certainly is NOW.”
But MA wanted him to him To go on loan to a prem side so your post makes zero sense once again , it was Saliba who choose France
Saliba got into OM team from day one and didn’t put any foot wrong till the end of the session, winning French league player of the year and some think it was Arteta and Edu doing. If he could that, I’m sure he was ready to play for us and needed not the last loan. It was not even Sampolli that ensured all that. It was the boy himself. The whole credits goes to the boy for earnesting all the given talents God gave him combined with his dedication and willingness to prove himself ready. All Arteta should get credit for is throwing him out for two seasons. Even after he himself said he made a mistake for not registering the boy for any competition in his first season with us. I would expect any sensible and mature coach to make the sensible, mature and right decision of including the boy in his team the second season instead of sending on loan again after he recognized his error of not including him in the first season. Arteta deserves credit for all the good he has done but not what Saliba has achieved. This is a boy that has been playing first team football since he was 18 years, a boy that keep Fofana, that works straight into a epl team and now worth 80m to Chelsea, out of the team. I’m glad the boy is with us now but I can’t just ignore this misplaced credit giving to a man that didn’t trust him.
Spot on
Too many on this site spend most of their breath seeking to blame people for (in their opinion) past mistakes. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Perhaps consider crediting Saliba HIMSELF for developing into the player he is NOW, as I think most of the work is down to him? But if praising one person rather than criticising another doesn’t fit your “black or white with no shades in between” agenda, then carry on. I look forward to your criticisms of every player in our squad and the inept role of management in their purchase/bad form/team selection over the course of this season!
+1
Wrighty”he now looks like he’s been playing in that position for years..”
He has!!😂
Complete twaddle, Arsenal wanted to sell him but no-one would cough up the 30 million they wanted, this had nothing to do with Arteta or Edu, it simply happened and now the credit is bestowed on them, what a laugh