‘It hurt me, it affected me’: Saliba opens up on Arteta’s treatment of him at Arsenal

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In an interview with TF1, Arsenal youngster William Saliba has opened up about his difficult few months at the Emirates under Mikel Arteta.

Unai Emery signed the talented young Frenchman from Saint-Etienne for £27 million (Goal) at the start of last season. He was loaned back immediately to gain more experience and many felt he would be ready to feature regularly for Arsenal once he returned.

However, Mikel Arteta wasn’t quite convinced. The Arsenal boss didn’t give him a single minute of action with the senior side. He was forced to feature for the reserves and was eventually loaned back to France until the end of the season.

Saliba was asked about his frustration at the Emirates and he claimed that Arteta’s treatment ‘affected’ him.

He said, as quoted by GFFN: “I really, really, really didn’t think that I would be transferred for €30m, to think that I would arrive, where people were expecting a lot from me, the fans excited about me and you find yourself in the reserves, play zero, zero, nothing in the Europa League or the league.

“I was in the squad once in the league cup. It hurt me, it affected me. I don’t think I left too early. When you feel ready you have to go. I don’t think I left too early. These things happen. I believe in myself.”

Arsenal Insider’s view

As much as fans wanted Saliba to come in and hit the ground running this season, it was never likely to happen. He had a number of senior centre-halves ahead of him, and adjusting to a new and superior league is never easy.

Saliba had a few personal issues to deal with as well. That made things even more difficult for him to nail down a place.

Arteta watched Saliba every day in training for a number of weeks and decided he wasn’t ready. He was sent out on loan and let’s just hope he makes a good enough impression in Nice to convince the Arsenal boss to keep him next season.