Since his arrival in 2019, William Saliba is still yet to make a competitive senior appearance for Arsenal, and a former teammate has now questioned Mikel Arteta’s decision to not ‘even try him once’.
Despite costing £27million two seasons ago from Saint-Etienne, Gunners boss Arteta has chosen to not use the youngster and has loaned him out twice since his arrival.
When the deal was struck, Unai Emery was still in charge at the Emirates.
Such is the potential of the player, the only way both clubs could agree to the signing was if Saliba was sent back on loan to his French club for the 2019/20 season.
The following year, the 20-year-old did not play a competitive minute for the Gunners before being sent out to Nice in the second half of the season, and now he is at Marseille on season-long loan deal.
And Arteta’s handling of the youngster has been questioned by Loic Perrin, who played alongside Saliba at Saint-Etienne and says he deserves a chance in the Premier League.
“I don’t understand how they didn’t even try him at least once,” said the now retired centre-back.
When you observe him since his beginnings at Saint-Etienne, he’s calm, cold, lucid.
“In one-on-one situations, he’s got extraordinary footing and always gets out of it.
“Furthermore, he’s a great kid to have in a group. At Nice, after many months without playing, he was good immediately when Nice were in bad form.
“At Marseille, in a crazy atmosphere, same thing. He doesn’t get carried away. He could have given something to Arsenal.”
It seems everyone other than Arteta is keen on Saliba with his current manager, Merseille boss Jorge Sampaoli, saying they are ‘lucky’ to have him and branded the young Gunner a ‘future great of French football’.
“He’s a top player at his position,” he said.
“We were lucky to get him on loan, it wasn’t simple. He’s great at marking, but good bringing the ball out too. He’s a future great of French football, he’s very good at starting plays.”
It remains to be seen whether the Arsenal boss considers him next season, but for now the Gunners’ loss is Marseille’s gain, with their manager thoroughly enjoying the quality Saliba is bringing to his team.
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