William Saliba is set to commit his future to Arsenal, which is a thrill beyond explanation for fans.
Andrea Berta put on a show during the summer transfer window, and the sporting director is still working his magic.
Amid interest from Real Madrid, David Ornstein broke the news that Saliba will sign a new deal at Arsenal, extending his stay in Mikel Arteta’s project.
The journey that Saliba has been on at Arsenal has completely transformed the club’s outlook, with the Gunners boasting one of the best defensive partnerships in the world.
Mikel Arteta was ‘fed up’ that Arsenal couldn’t get William Saliba a loan
Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes’ partnership is invaluable to Arteta, making the latest contract news all the more celebratory.
There was, however, a time when the Arsenal manager was desperate to see the back of his French centre-back.
In 2020, Arsenal were unable to secure a loan for Saliba back in France, limiting the defender’s game time as he spent the first half of the 2020/21 season with the U21s.
Speaking in November 2020, as transcribed by TNT Sports, Arteta admitted that he was ‘fed up’ with Saliba’s situation.
“I am fed up with the situation because, as you could see, we tried to find a way in the last few days [of the transfer window] to give him some football.
“I explained that he needed that transition year when we decided to buy him and send him on loan to Saint-Etienne, for many reasons that didn’t happen; he didn’t have that transition year, and he needs to go through that.”
Arteta wasn’t satisfied with the defender being unused rather than going on loan in France, with the manager not seeing a way into the team for Saliba back then.
What’s rather humorous is that Arteta wanted Saliba to leave due to the ‘amount of central defenders’ the Gunners had at the time.
“At the moment, with the amount of central defenders that we have in the team, we had to leave him out of the squad, which is painful because we have some injuries and we could have used him, but it’s part of this profession.”
Arsenal’s defenders at the time of Saliba’s OGC Nice loan
The idea of Saliba not being good enough to play for Arsenal is difficult to imagine, but the situation unfolded less than five years ago.
Hindsight proves how borderline comedic Arteta’s view was at the time, as his collection of centre-backs back then was absolutely dire.
Aside from Gabriel, who had been signed that summer, Arsenal’s central defensive options were Rob Holding, Callum Chambers, Pablo Mari, David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi.
Fortunately, Saliba was granted a loan move to OGC Nice mid-way through the season, a move that was essential to his growth to becoming one of the world’s best.
It’s been quite the rollercoaster ride for Saliba at Arsenal, with the player’s commitment to the club sparing Arteta’s blushes at one point.
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