William Saliba has disclosed that Mikel Arteta played a crucial role in convincing him to stay at Arsenal over the summer.
Saliba had spent the past two seasons on loan in Ligue 1, including an impressive spell at Marseille last term. The French side were keen to bring him back to the Orange Velodrome permanently, with some suggestion that he may look to leave the Emirates.
Instead of moving on though, Saliba opted to stay at the Gunners, going on to become a key part of Arsenal's success this term. And he has now revealed that a conversation with Arteta was the key factor in him remaining a Gunner.
“We spoke a bit at the beginning of the season. He was happy with what I did whilst on loan. He’s a very good coach, who really knows what he’s doing. He is clear in everything that he says," Saliba told Canal Plus.
"He has helped me integrate quickly into this system of play. Every day he gives advice to be better on the pitch. I came back here [to Arsenal] to impose myself and it’s nice to start well, as I have.
“We have had a very good start to the season until the match at Manchester [United]. We [were] first and we want to continue like that. As everyone knows, I didn’t play. For me, it was better to go away.
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I’m a young player and it’s always better to play and gain experience, make errors and learn. If you don’t play, you can’t progress. For me, going away for a year-and-a-half was good. I came back stronger, with new ambitions.”
Saliba did suffer a set-back when he scored an unfortunate own-goal against Leicester, but bounced back to net during the win over Bournemouth a week later. And the Frenchman hopes it will be the first of many such strikes in Arsenal colours.
"It was all going well, and it’s a pain when you score an own goal. I stayed focused until the end of the match. There was still time left in the match, so you can’t give up. If you win, then the own goal doesn’t matter as much as if you draw.
"Luckily, it went well, and then next week I scored at the right end. It was a beautiful goal and it was great to score my first goal quickly for Arsenal. I am re-finding my shooting boots a bit because as a defender, it had been a while since I had had a shot. I’m hoping to score many more like that.
“It makes me happy when the fans chant my name like that. Since the Bournemouth game, they’ve been singing it every match, and it gives me a lot of strength, and make me want to give something back by playing well and working hard. It’s sung in the dressing room every week, just to tease me a bit.”
