Arsenal fans have agreed with Dimitri Payet regarding his comments about William Saliba and his lack of game time at his parent club.
The former West Ham player is teammates with Saliba at Marseille – Saliba is on-loan at the Ligue 1 side this season.
Payet would have seen first hand, both in training and out on the pitch, just how good the centre-back is.
He shared that he has been ‘most impressed’ with Saliba and he ‘doesn’t understand’ why he hasn’t donned Arsenal’s colours yet, as he told L’Equipe.
“The one who has impressed me the most is Willie [Saliba],” said Payet.
“Considering what he’s been doing since the start of the season, I don’t understand why he hasn’t played more for Arsenal.”
Arsenal fans have shared the same views as Payet that they are baffled that Saliba hasn’t played a single minute under Mikel Arteta.
It needs to be remembered that it wasn’t Arteta who purchased the ball-playing centre-back, but Unai Emery when he was at the club.
The Gunners paid £27 million for his talents (Sky Sports), but since then, he has spent loan deals in France.
Whether or not these calls turn out to be genius moves, remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, it has been a talking point amongst supporters for some while.
Arsenal have Gabriel and Ben White as their first-choice centre-backs – both purchased under Arteta and during the last two summers.
From that perspective, Saliba is already behind them, and even if he is part of the squad next season, then he will probably play second fiddle to them.
If that’s the case then things would have gone well for Arteta and nobody can argue.
But if things go towards the other direction for the Spanish coach this term, then he probably won’t be in charge by the time Saliba returns.
Nonetheless, here is a selection of Arsenal fans reacting to what they’re hearing about Saliba:
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