William Saliba will join an improved Arsenal defence.
Arsenal had to meet Saint-Etienne’s demands to loan William Saliba back last year in order to seal the deal.
It wasn’t ideal, but Saliba has had a useful year in France where he has got more vital first team football under his belt.
In the process, Arsenal have changed managers and Mikel Arteta has improved the defence.
Arsenal’s backline has got better to the point that even Shkodran Mustafi has become more dependable, recently being named in the WhoScored team of 2020 with a better raring than Virgil van Dijk.
The Gunners’ improved defence makes it a lot easier for Saliba to come in and try and meet the sky high expectations.
If Saliba had come in last summer it could have set back his development, bearing in mind how bad Arsenal were under Unai Emery in the first half of the season.
Arteta has given Arsenal more fight, and they have become harder for teams to break down.
It’s much better for Saliba to come into this team, thanks to the work the new boss has been able to do.
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