‘Wow’: The one moment that transformed Arsenal star Saliba into ‘different player’

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Former Arsenal centre-back Pablo Mari has discussed the progress he has seen William Saliba make. 

William Saliba is now a talismanic figure in the heart of the Arsenal defence. However, it took the 22-year-old a while to get to this point. 

Arsenal originally signed the centre-back in a £27 million deal in the summer of 2019. Saliba then spent the subsequent three seasons on loan with Saint-Etienne, Nice, and Marseille. Over the course of these stints in France, Saliba developed and improved significantly as a player.

By the time he finally made his Arsenal debut on the opening day of last season, Saliba was ready to take the Premier League by storm. The ten-cap France international has not looked back since. He has established himself as a star at the Emirates Stadium and recently signed a new long-term contract with the north London club.

Pablo Mari, who was on the books at Arsenal between 2020 and 2023, was able to witness Saliba’s progress between loan spells first hand.

Pablo Mari pinpoints moment of William Saliba evolution

In a recent interview with The Athletic, the Spanish defender said, “the first two years he went on loan because he didn’t do things well in the pre-season. Then I remember after he went to Nice, he came back and it was like ‘Wow, this is a different player’.”

“He had problems on loan but he changed his mentality. It’s really strong and that’s why he changed to become one of the best defenders in the Premier League.”

Whilst he wasn’t responsible for bringing Saliba to the club, as he was signed in the Unai Emery era, Mikel Arteta still deserves plenty of credit for carefully cultivating the youngster’s talent. Saliba was allowed to hone his craft and make mistakes elsewhere, before being thrown in at the deep end in Premier League terms.

Saliba himself deserves praise for recognising the need to change his approach and mentality in order to succeed at Arsenal.

He is now a fan-favourite at Arsenal, even if Marcel Desailly claims not to be able to see what all the fuss is about when it comes to Saliba. The general consensus is certainly that Arteta currently has a future superstar on his hands.