Ian Wright has questioned on Premier League Productions (28/08/21 at 1:35 pm) why Arsenal aren’t giving someone like William Saliba a shot.
The Highbury legend blasted the claims that Saliba’s ‘not ready’ because he thinks the current standard of Arsenal defending is ‘embarrassing’.
Arsenal were whopped 5-0 by Manchester City on Saturday, that’s three defeats in three games, no goals scored and the club sitting bottom of the Premier League table.
Saliba is currently out on loan at Marseille, where the Frenchman is still waiting to make his senior debut for his parent club.
After watching the car crash defending from Arsenal over the weekend, Wright made this Saliba claim.
“You see Mari, how easy he went down last week,” said Wright. “I think that’s something that’s systematic in this Arsenal team.
“They are waiting for VAR to look at that and call it up for a foul (Gundogan goal). That’s the level we have reached.
“I mean talking about someone like Saliba, who’s not in this team because he’s not ready.
“And that’s the standard? It’s embarrassing.”
It has been two years since Arsenal paid £27 million for Saliba’s ball-playing talents (Sky Sports), yet he hasn’t played a single minute for the club.
If the Gunners were flying high, they had one of the best defences in the league then it would be understandable.
But it’s far from that and it begs the question as to what Saliba has to do in order to break into Mikel Arteta’s team.
In truth, by the time Saliba returns from his loan spell in Ligue 1 next summer, Arteta might not even be in a job
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