William Saliba has shown a lot of potential at a young age (Getty Images)
The Guardian reports a rather surprising bit of news that Arsenal could let William Saliba leave on loan. Surprising because Saliba was expected to be lining up for the Gunners after completing his last loan spell at St. Etienne.
The 19-year-old French centre-back started his youth career at local club AS Bondy in 2008 and moved to FC Montfermeil 6 years later. St. Etienne’s youth team snapped him up in 2016 as he continued to progress through the youth teams.
In 2018, he was promoted to the senior team. While he did not get to feature much for the side, his performances attracted the interest of Arsenal, who signed him the following season. However, he was immediately loaned back to the French club for that season. Across two seasons, he made 36 appearances for St. Etienne (source – Transfermarkt).
He returned to Arsenal this season but hasn’t made an appearance for them so far. The only time he was in the squad was in the EFL Cup victory over Leicester. Other than that, he wasn’t even named in any of the matchday squads. Saliba is a regular for the French youth sides but hasn’t been called up yet to the senior side.
While it may seem puzzling as to why Arsenal would let such a player with potential go for a loan spell, we need to look at Arsenal’s defensive contingent. Including Saliba, the club have 8 centre-backs on their roster. Of those, the likes of David Luiz, Rob Holding, new signing Gabriel Magalhaes and the recovering Pablo Mari are expected to be lining up.
Add to that, Kieran Tierney has been playing in that role in a back-three and you have one too many players for that position. It’s not to say Saliba isn’t talented enough to make the cut. But at such a young age, it would be a rather tough challenge to tackle the Premier League.
At 19, he has a long time to return to Arsenal and establish himself in the team. Hence, Arteta must send this talented young defender out on loan and make him play regular top-flight football.
Arsenal can get a defender off their books without losing him permanently and the player could get regular game time as well. A win-win situation for all.
