Saliba may be on right road at last
IT took William Saliba 13 months to play his first match for Arsenal. After almost two more years, his wait for appearance No2 is over. The French centre-back, who first signed for Arsenal for £27million in 2019, featured in the opening match of their US tour against Everton in Baltimore last night.
Saliba first arrived in north London as a raw 18-year-old of considerable promise. He returned to the first-team fold this week a senior France international, following loan spells back home — at St Etienne, Nice and Marseille — that culminated with last season’s Ligue 1 Young Player-ofthe-Year award.
‘He’s a proper talent and he’s shown in the last year what can do,’ said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. ‘But in football it’s about what you do the next day — what everybody did three months ago or a month ago doesn’t really matter. It’s about what you do tomorrow and he’s going to have the chance to play.’
While on loan, Saliba watched every Arsenal match. ‘To see how they played, so when I was back it would be easier to play with those I hadn’t met before,’ he said.
Arteta, who handed Saliba his debut in August 2020, can already see how the 21-year-old has developed
‘All that time he’s been abroad has built that confidence in him which is really important,’ said Arteta. ‘He’s improved in many areas, first of all because he has an incredible amount of minutes last year. He played to a really good level. He was educated with a different coach in a different league and now it’s about putting all those things into the way we want to play and in our league which is a very different context. He needs to show that now.’
It will not be easy. Arteta said: ‘How many players at his age play as a central defender at a big club in the Premier League?’
At Arsenal, Saliba will have to disrupt the promising partnership of Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes.
‘We cannot guarantee first-team football to anybody,’ said Arteta. ‘What we guarantee is that the ones we really see and think are going to take us to the next level, they’re going to be playing a lot of minutes.
‘He’s settled really well. The way our relationship started, with the plan from the beginning to buy him and then send him on loan, is not a typical thing to do. But we made every step trying to prepare him the best possible way, so when he now faces the league and our team he can perform at the highest level.’
It could prove tricky for Saliba to shine during this US tour. Arteta has brought a 33-man group that features new signings Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira and those surely destined for the exit door.
‘We know the squad at the moment is too big and it will be really difficult to manage a squad of that size,’ said Arteta. Oleksandr Zinchenko is expected to join too.
Saliba’s long apprenticeship has frustrated some supporters, particularly when, following his debut, the defender spent months in the wilderness, playing for the club’s Under-23s.
But he did suggest Saliba’s road towards the first team could be a blueprint for younger signings. ‘If it ends up in the right way, yes,’ said Arteta. ‘It’s great if you can recruit at 17 and get them out for two years and, at 19, 20, they’re ready to play for Arsenal.’