It’s been quite the week for William Saliba as his recent interview in France made a number of headlines and his comments on Mikel Arteta seemed to rub Arsenal fans up the wrong way.
Saliba hasn’t had an easy six months, becoming something of a forgotten man at Arsenal before securing a loan move to Nice, where his every comment and every move is seemingly being scrutinised from across the Channel.
Unfortunately, there may be even more bad news on the horizon for the French defender.
Indeed, Football London are reporting that Arsenal are closely monitoring Konstantinos Mavropanos with a view of bringing him back into the fold, and that certainly doesn’t bode well for Saliba.
Arsenal’s excess depth at centre-half has been spoken about quite a lot, but when you add Mavropanos into the mix, it becomes even harder to forge a path into the first-team.
Rob Holding, Pablo Mari and Gabriel Magalhaes seem to be Arsenal’s first-choice trio going forward, but the situation becomes even more complicated for Saliba If David Luiz signs a new deal and Mavropanos comes back into the fold.
That’s before we even mention the fact that Calum Chambers has a claim to stake.
When you factor in the French teenager, that’s potentially seven players vying for two spots in the XI, and with Saliba recently suggesting that Arteta doesn’t rate him all that highly, the news of Mavropanos’ potential return is seemingly another big hurdle for him.
Of course, all that matters from the club’s standpoint is what’s best for the team, and if Arteta and Edu believe that Mavropanos has something to offer, even if it’s at the expense of giving Saliba a chance, then it’s something they understandably have to explore.
It will certainly be interesting to watch how Arsenal conduct their business in the centre-half position going forward, but we can’t see Mavropanos’ return helping Saliba’s case in terms of making the Gunners’ first-team.
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