William Saliba could be sold by Arsenal this summer because they still don't trust him to survive in the Premier League.
That is the view of former Gunners great Paul Merson, who won five major honours with the club as a player. Merson reckons there is no point bringing Saliba back from his loan at Marseille unless he is going to play regular football next season.
But the former England forward fears Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta still doesn't rate Saliba despite the 21-year-old being nominated for the young player of the year award in France. Writing in his Daily Star column, Merson said: "William Saliba is running out of time to prove himself at Arsenal and I think he could be sold this summer.
"There must be a reason he's been loaned out three times by the club. Was he getting ripped in training? I don't see why he's still on loan otherwise. Arsenal paid a lot of money for him but I think if anyone offers them their money back they would take it right now. It's almost three years he's been there now and he can't get a look in. Maybe Mikel Arteta has watched him train and decided he's nowhere near ready."
Saliba has played 49 times for Marseille this season and earned his first call up to the France squad in March. But if Arsenal still don't believe he's ready for the Premier League, Merson reckons it's high time they bought someone who is.
He said: "If that's the case, Arsenal are going to need another centre back this summer because you can't rely on Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes and Rob Holding. Especially if they are in the Champions League because you have to have a big squad full of quality, proven players to survive playing that many games a season.
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"You need four top-quality centre-backs for a start - and they should sign one who's Premier League ready. How long can they keep waiting for Saliba? You hear that he's doing well in France, but that league is nowhere near as competitive as the Premier League. If Arsenal don't have confidence in him to perform over here, there's no point bringing him back from Marseille just to loan him out again. They might as well sell."
Saliba spoke out about his future recently in France, opening the door to a possible return to Marseille next season. He said: "My wish is to finish the season well, to leave on a good note in case I don't come back. It would be my pleasure to come back no matter what. It's not as if I know I’m not going to come back, it's Marseille, it's my club."
Arsenal signed Saliba from St Etienne for £27million in the summer of 2019 when he was still a teenager, beating off competition from north London rivals Tottenham. He has played the full 90 minutes of every league game for Marseille this season dating back to September, and is tipped to become a future star of the national team.
