ARTETA IS EXCITED BY SALIBA

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-of-the-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 and league and now it’s about putting all those things into the way we want to play.