There has been serious scrutiny placed on Mikel Arteta’s relationship with William Saliba during their shared time at Arsenal, but the Spaniard appears to have always rated the defender. The idea that William Saliba was once tipped for the Emirates exit before having kicked a ball for Arsenal now seems crazy to the Gunners fanbase.
However, there was a time when the Frenchman was rumoured to be unhappy with the situation he found himself in at Arsenal and Saliba’s comments to the media at that time certainly read like a man angling for a move away. With that being said, it is clear that for all of the speculation, manager Mikel Arteta rated him very highly.
Saliba was only 18 years of age when his move to north London from Saint-Etienne was confirmed, back when Unai Emery was in charge at the Emirates. However, the Spaniard was sacked four months after the defender was signed, who at the time was back on loan with the club Arsenal signed him from.
Arteta replaced Emery and handed Saliba his first appearance in a Gunners shirt in the summer of 2020, during a pre-season friendly away at MK Dons. Despite impressing, the centre-back was left out of the Gunners’ competitive squads for the coming campaign and forced to play with the Under-23s.
Having only made 15 appearances on loan back at Saint-Etienne, Arteta felt Saliba still wasn’t ready for the rigours of the Premier League and arranged a second-loan spell mid-way through the 2020/21 season back in Ligue 1 with OGC Nice.
It was there where Saliba appeared to show his first real signs of frustration with Arsenal, particularly after Arteta told the media that the decision to send him back out on loan stemmed from a lack of game-time in the first spell and fears over his development.
Saliba responded: “The coach immediately told me that I was not ready,” he said. “I would have at least liked to have had a chance to rediscover my rhythm. But this is football, it’s like that.”
The centre-back also later told RMC’s ‘Top of the Foot’ show: “It is clear that so much has changed in the last year. When I saw that the coach changed a lot changed for me too
In this year there has been a lot of change. He judged me on two-and-a-half matches. I would have liked for him to play me more. But he told me I wasn’t ready. I was waiting for him to give me a chance, but football is like that.
“When I initially came to Arsenal the league looked very good so I showed up to training and wanted to train on my own to show the coach I was ready. I am happy now, I want to play for Nice. The idea when you’re part of a team is a better feeling for me.
Source: mirror
In other news – Connie Chiume’s children launch new show
Connie Chiume is excited about the new show launched by her children, Nongelo Chiume and Nothando Naledi Mabuza. The children launched a podcast called The Kids of the Celebrity.
The podcast aims at interviewing other celebrities’ kids. Our aim with this podcast is to humanize the lives of celebrity kids. Learn more
