‘Going to be a huge player’: Arsenal 20-year-old tipped for stardom, Arteta’s never picked him

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Apparently Arsenal-owned centre-back William Saliba is ‘going to be a huge player’.

Well, quite a lot of Arsenal fans have thought this for quite a while, since his £27 million move to North London as an 18-year-old in 2019.

But now a fellow professional – and teammate – is saying the same.

Now 20, Saliba has dazzled during his season-long loan at Marseille so far.

This past weekend, the big defender more than held his own in the 0-0 draw with Paris Saint-Germain, keeping the likes of Kylian Mbappe on a short leash.

Despite joining two years ago, Saliba still hasn’t made a senior debut for Arsenal and it’s clear that Mikel Arteta doesn’t think he’s ready for the Premier League – otherwise why loan him out?

But the big man’s qualities are clear to see in light of how he handled Mbappe on Sunday night.

And Marseille teammate, Pape Gueye, lavished praise on the Gunners loanee.

He told Foot Mercato: “He’s a top player, he listens, I’m very close to him and I think he’s going to be a huge player and I hope he does because he deserves it.”

Well, Gueye is probably right.

The good news for Arsenal is that Marseille don’t have an obligation to sign him outright this summer, but they do with Matteo Guendouzi, who’s also on loan at the Velodrome.

That right there indicates that although the Gunners have never used him, they believe in his qualities and hopefully for the North Londoners’ sake, they keep him next summer because, as his teammate says, this is a ‘huge’ talent.