Martin Keown has given his take on talkSPORT on the prospect of William Saliba potentially leaving Arsenal on loan.
According to talkSPORT, Watford and Brentford are interested in signing Saliba from Arsenal on a loan deal before the summer transfer window in England closes next week.
The 19-year-old defender is at the Gunners at the moment, having spent the 2019-20 campaign on loan at Saint-Etienne after signing for the North London outfit from the French club in the summer of 2019.
Arsenal legend Keown has said that he is looking forward to watching the French centre-back in action, and has give his take on the current situation of the youngster.
Keown said on talkSPORT: “It’s bizarre. We’ve just not seen the kid. You want to see him to see how he performs say in the Championship to see if he’s good enough.
“I’m anxious to see. The feeling was that this was going to be the one. Gabriel has come in and been an outstanding signing. Maybe they feel he’s too young and want him to go out to pastures new.
“To then loan him out when there was a real problem there last season seems a real mystery.”
Leaving Arsenal on loan
Saliba is a very talented and promising young defender who has good first-team experience with Saint-Etienne, having played 12 times in Ligue 1 and twice in the Europa League last season and 16 times in the league in 2018-19, according to WhoScored.
The Gunners do have quite a few centre-backs on their books at the moment, and the North London club also signed Gabriel this summer.
It would make sense for the 19-year-old to go out on loan to a club in the Championship, such as Brentford or Watford, where Arsenal can monitor his progress.
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