“It gave me a good slap” – 20-year-old reflects on Arsenal experience amidst talk of permanent exit

Arsenal have been known to nurture young talent and help them develop into big players for the big occasion. They often tend to send many of their youth prospects to multiple loans and finally integrate them into the first-team setup. This has been prominent practice at the club since the days of manager Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal continue to uphold this policy and find the right loan deals for their youth players in every transfer window. One player who many Gunners faithful believe is being managed poorly is highly rated centre-back William Saliba. The French prodigy arrived at the Emirates back in 2019 for a price tag of €30 million.

Since then he has been on three loan deals, first Saint-Etienne, then OGC Nice and is currently at Olympique Marseille. The 20-year-old is yet to make his first appearance for the Gunners, which is shocking for many fans who consider him a top quality player.

However, Mikel Arteta has had his doubts about whether the player is ready for the intensity and physicality of the Premier League. The Spaniard's assessment of the defender has been criticized and the Arsenal faithful believe their boss is not a great man manager.

Saliba recently spoke to RMC Sport about his experience of joining Arsenal and his plans for the future. The player clarifies that he does not regret his move to the north London club and that it has helped him one way or the other. He said:

"You don’t have to have them. There are things like that in football. There are difficult times. It’s not all rosy. Even if it didn’t go well on a personal level, I take it as an experience. It gave me a stronger mentality."

When the news of his arrival was announced, the Gunners fanbase was very excited. They believed that they had fixed their leaky defense with a long-term option. They were positive that Saliba would soon be starting games for them, putting on a masterclass as a defender.

In the interview, the 20-year-old said he believed the same, but things did not go his way and that it was like a reality check.

"Before going to Arsenal, I said to myself that I was going to play, I was convinced I would, I wondered who I was going to play with. I then arrived, I didn’t play any games, I played with the under-23s. It gave me a good slap."

The Arsenal loanee added:

"Today, I am more focused. We have to do more each time. For the coach [Arteta], I wasn’t ready yet. I respect his decision."

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Arsenal will be getting a more mature player when William Saliba returns

Mikel Arteta has spoken about his on loan player and proclaimed that Saliba is an Arsenal player and that he will return next season. The player has also given hints that he wants to play for the Gunners.

The centre-back has only missed one game for Oympique Marseille this season when he was on the bench for their Ligue 1 clash against Angers. Other than that, he has started every game in the Europa League and the French top-flight and completed the 90 minutes every time.

Saliba has emerged as a colossal figure in the rearguard with consistent confident performances. His reading of the game has been on-point and he has not shied away from tackling players inside the penalty box.

The 20-year-old has quick turn of pace which helps him recover fast and with his physicality has been winning one-vs-one duels. Olympique Marseille have accumulated 14 clean sheets from the 20 games in which Saliba started. Make no mistake, he could still be a great asset for Arsenal when he returns next season.