William Saliba has been named Ligue 1’s Young Player of the Year and earned a place in Ligue 1’s Team of the Year to cap off a very productive season-long loan at Marseille.
The 21-year-old has excelled at the Stade Velodrome since signing last July making 51 appearances in total, including 36 starts out of a possible 37 in the league.
During that time, he’s also been promoted to the France senior squad making his debut in March.
𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗮 wins the @UNFP Ligue 1 Best Young Player award 🏆💫#TropheesUNFP pic.twitter.com/hN4LdeojSo
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) May 15, 2022
While Marseille have made it very clear they’d like to keep Saliba for at least another year, and other clubs are sniffing around, it’s looking very likely that the centre-back will be brought back into the fold by Mikel Arteta in pre-season.
Despite signing for the Gunners three years ago, the Frenchman is yet to make his senior debut for Arsenal.
Had he not picked up an untimely fifth booking of the season, which has earned him a one-game suspension, Saliba would be due to line up for Marseille in their final game of the season against Strasbourg on Saturday. Instead, he’ll have to watch from the stands as Jorge Sampaoli’s men bid to finish second.
He NEEDS to be included in the first team next year. He’s too good to sell. I like Ben and Gabby, but I’d also like to see big Will rotated in from time to time too.
We run the risk of losing him for nothing… would be really bad business if we don’t get him to extend immediately.
Not sure why my comment has been immediately downvoted, it’s completely valid!
Yeah same, you’re spot on in your assessment.
You sound sarcastic but I can’t possibly down vote a gun with the most epic nickname
Don’t worry about it, as long as you believe in it
Not sure why you immediately complained about downvotes. They are completely valid.
i think since some downvotes might have been due to you caring about votes in the first place.
and the problem with Saliba might be that he does not want to be rotated, he wants to be a starter. whether that’s right or wrong, I hope he is convinced and would actually not mind him uppending Gabby (who’s got that perpetual rashness akin to Koscielny) or Ben (who’s missing a bit in physicality maybe), or at least playing an equal amount of games. convincing the lads is what’s tricky here..
Can we get him a quick flight to Newcastle?
We must retain him, we only have to look at our annual defensive crisis to see why
Never gonna work, Arteta didn’t like him. Now that he can go to other big teams, money to Arsenal, Saliba elsewhere might be the solution.
Has 2years left on his contract…if there’s no clause for a third and he doesn’t extend then we should sell if we get 50m…
We have to try to convince him over the next season, that he’s best placed at Arsenal under Arteta. But it might be an uphill battle, he hasn’t exactly been treated well since we signed him
He’s not just a good young talent, but a potential best player in his position level talent
Would be a blow if he doesn’t work out, and it’s worth losing out on a portion of the transfer by selling him a year later in order to give him a chance to settle here
He’s been fantastically treated, he’s been allowed to develop at the correct pace in the correct environment and this award is proof of that.
If Saliba is intelligent and well advised he’ll understand that under Arteta and at Arsenal’s guidance he’s just played a full season of French top flight football and won a young player of the year award.
Arsenal have done everything to progress Saliba’s career not hinder it.
Right, Arsenal wanted him in championship and he insisted to return to France. Arteta saw him for 5 mn and decided he wasn’t ready. Now you’re hinting there was a savvy plan to develop him.
I don’t think that’s accurate. Firstly we blocked him from playing in the French cup final for his boyhood club, because we were hoping to squeeze a bit more out of them in terms of loan fee. Then we relegated him to the u-23s on the basis of 1 or 2 preseason games at what sounded like an incredibly painful time in life. We then compounded any ill-feeling he has towards us with sorting his loan move out too late, like he’s just an afterthought, completely wasting half a season. Since then we’ve just moved him out of sight, until… Read more »
When you read assessments in the French press, it sounds like Saliba is both a very good centre half and a very young centre half–though he is excellent most of the time, he can be quite inconsistent. Which is exactly why it made sense to loan him. He played for a big club, in front of big (and rabid) crowds, in a meaningful battle for a Champions League place. It’s clear we screwed up the early phase of our relationship; but I think we have made the right moves to repair that. Arsenal still have a real attraction to French… Read more »
Pepe looked like a world beater in the French league
I think I would accept that if Arteta/the club had communicated that he’s a part of their plans but feel he’s not quite ready yet. But with nothing said there seems no discernible difference between the way Saliba has been dealt with and Guendouzi – who rightly or wrongly was just forced out with no real regard for club finances or his career after a fall out Like you’d expect a bit of enthusiasm in the press from Arteta about the 21 yr old French international centre back he’ll have at his disposal next year, no? If it is the… Read more »
Out of curiosity are any of our players 1 booking away from a suspension. Saw xhaka reached 9 PL bookings in total Thursday and was concerned this could lead to a suspension got Everton if he picked up another v Newcastle but apparently you need 15 at this stage of the season (news to me)
No, in the Premier League that bookings rule is scrapped after a team’s gameweek 32.
A bit harsh that the 5 booking rule carries on until the end of the season
Congrats on our player!
He looks like a top talent.
Hopefully he wants to come back to us.
Bring. Him. Home.
Got be be worth a shot next to white although there’s a sniff of Anelka about him.
He has requested a Son sized pocket crafted in to his shorts by all accounts.
This is exactly what you want from a loan. I’d love to see him rotated with Gabby and White next year. I just hope he doesn’t have a grudge on his shoulder against us due to the lack of opportunity. Hoping a solid year back home has cooled the situation. We need to pushed to extend or sell him tho. Definitely do not want to lose him for nothing.
Who dat? We should buy him
He looked really good as Joel Campbell of no fear!
Better get him back and extend his contract with good wage, if Arteta is not confident with him then send him back to France, because his style is better than what Arsenal have in his position.
What’s he up to tonight
We need an immediate recall from loan and flight to Newcastle lol!
How Saliba is managed might actually be the true test of Arteta’s ability to handle players’ ego.
He’s already stated he wants to be in Marseilles, they cannot afford to buy him. What’s the betting he stays there on loan then they buy him for peanuts, as he goes into the last year of his contract. It would be typical Arsenal with our track record!
The “Arteta and Saliba don’t like each other trope” has been addressed many times before in the past, I don’t understand why people think it’s a foregone conclusion he won’t be integrated back into the squad
Knowing Arteta, more likely he will move on from us. Many fans here typically deluded. Arteta cannot man manage. He had great assets in Saliba, Guendouzi even Kolasinac and Bellerin but he let them go because he is arrogant. Likely Bellerin, Saliba and Guendouzi will move on. Arteta acolytes will then shift the goal post and will themselves into believing Edu knows what he is doing point to Tomiyasu, Ramsdale(Stop clock) and neglect conveniently Tavares, Sambi, White. More likely we will again buy questionable product with more risk since we won’t be in CL and will be second tier destination… Read more »
STOP CALLING FANS DELUDED, please.