Arteta says Saliba has ‘made massive improvements in the last few months’
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said that William Saliba has made massive improvements in the last few months.
The Gunners signed Saliba from Saint-Etienne for £27 million in the summer of 2019 and loaned him back to the French side for the 2019/20 season. The 19 year old made just 17 appearances for Les Verts during his loan spell due to injuries and the French domestic season being halted early due to the coronavirus.
Since making the move to North London this summer, Saliba is yet to make his senior debut for the Gunners. Arteta has repeatedly spoken about the player not being at the level required to play for Arsenal due to his lack of playing time last season coupled with some challenges he has faced in his personal life.
The Spaniard sounds like he has been impressed with the French defender in recent months and has said that he will give the former Saint-Etienne defender an opportunity when there is an opening in defence and he is ready to represent the club.
On Saliba, Arteta said:
“Whenever we have the spaces and we believe that he’s ready to play with us. To be fair, he’s made massive improvements in the last few months and it’s been a really tricky situation for him. As I mentioned before, designed a pathway for him and there were a lot of things that happened to him in his personal life and professionally as well. Now we’ve made some steps forwards, he’s working really hard and played for the under-21s again. That was a good game because Martinelli finally came back for 45 minutes, so I think it was a really positive day for us in terms of that.”
Saliba played for the Arsenal Under-21 side in their 3-0 defeat to AFC Wimbledon in the Papa John’s EFL Trophy. He was sent off in the closing stages of the game after picking up a second yellow card but put in an impressive display prior to this.
Arteta had indicated in the past that the club would look to send the 19 year old out on loan in January in order to provide him with an opportunity to play regularly. He was close to rejoining Saint-Etienne on a season long loan towards the end of the summer transfer window but that move fell through due to administrative challenges. Saint-Etienne and Nice are believed to be interested in signing him on loan in January.
On plans to send Saliba out on loan next month, Arteta said:
“It’s something that we are discussing at the moment, the best thing for us to do. It will be decided soon.”
