Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has reinforced his stance that defender William Saliba is in his plans for the future. It comes after the Frenchman was linked with an exit from the club once again this summer.
Saliba, 21, enjoyed a successful loan spell at Marseille in the previous campaign where he guided the side to second in Ligue 1 and won the Young Player of the Year award - previously held by the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni. The youngster’s return to the Emirates Stadium has created uncertainty though, given his understandable desire to play first-team football.
With Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes the preferred partnership in central defence last season, it remains to be seen where Saliba will fit in. However, he has outlined his desire to fight for his place, telling the official Arsenal website: “We [Saliba and Arteta] spoke a little bit on Monday and will speak more. My plan is to fight and work with the team, win as much as possible, and grow more.
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“It feels good to be back and starting pre-season. I’m so excited to continue training and playing in the friendly games. It’s important to be here with the fans, as well as my teammates. I hope we’ll enjoy some good training and games which is important before the start of the season.”
Despite recent reports about Saliba’s exit, Arteta reinforced his stance that he is in his plans. Speaking ahead of the match against Everton on Sunday, he said: “Yeah he's going to play, he's going to play tomorrow and we're all excited to watch him play. He's settled really well, obviously 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 faces now the league and on our team he can perform at the highest level,” adding. “He's in the plans, yep.”
That step has included three loan spells away from the club back in France. The latest with Marseille saw him make 36 league appearances, guiding them to a place in the Champions League.
That successful period also saw him earn a first call up to the French senior national team, no easy feat. It’s those steps that lead Arteta to believing the defender has improved both technically and mentally: “I think 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 for the way we want to play and in our league which is a very different context. He needs to show that now.
“I think he looked really confident and all that time he's been abroad has built that confidence in him which is really important. Don't forget the age he still is - how many players at his age play as a central defender at a big club in the Premier League?”
With the youngster now looking to dislodge the partnership of Gabriel and White at the back, it remains to be seen what part he plays. While reports claim that he is demanding first-team football or an exit, Arteta refused to guarantee his playing time.
When asked about the links, the Spaniard said: “We cannot guarantee first-team football to anybody in this team - you can ask that question to anybody. 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 [Saliba] a proper talent and he's shown in the last year what can do. But in football it's about what you do the next day - what everybody did three months ago or a month ago, it doesn't really matter. It's about what you do tomorrow and he's going to have the chance to play.”
There can be little question over the potential the Frenchman has, but his long-term future may not align with the short-term goals of both himself and the club. It remains to be seen how they line up, but for now it appears that Saliba will get his chance in the red and white of Arsenal.
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