Speaking on his YouTube channel, Goal journalist Charles Watts has shared Arsenal’s stance on William Saliba after reports emerged stating that the Frenchman is considering his future at the Emirates.
The centre-back hasn’t been given a chance at Arsenal, and despite the fact he was a £27m signing, it seems as though he isn’t a part of Arsenal’s plans.
However, Watts believes that Arsenal want Saliba to report back for pre-season where he will be given his chance to show Mikel Arteta that he has something to offer this team.
What’s been said?
Watts cleared up how Arsenal view the Saliba situation amid rumours he could be leaving the club.
“The situation from Arsenal is the same. They expect Saliba to come back for pre-season and play like everyone else and be given his chance to impress Mikel Arteta like anyone else, but from Saliba’s side of things, perhaps they’re looking at things a little differently now after seeing the reports about Ben White,” Watts said.
The journalist revisited this point later in the video, saying:
“In terms of where Arsenal stand is that they think he’ll be coming back and will be given an opportunity to do what he can do in pre-season, which starts in just a couple of weeks’ time.”
Right approach
This seems to be exactly the way Arsenal should be approaching the Saliba situation.
If we’re being honest, we don’t know if the Frenchman is good enough for Arsenal, after all, he’s never played a league game for them, so they need to analyse him in pre-season.
If Arteta likes what he sees, then he will get a chance, but if the youngster fails to impress he won’t be in Arteta’s plans, and at that point, he’d have every right to consider his future.
It seems as though this situation is still very open.
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