It looks like William Saliba was the victim of some Arsenal-type punishment in training on Wednesday afternoon.
There’s a tradition at London Colney that if you drop the ball during a keep-it-up session, your surrounding team-mates are allowed to flick your ear.
This is a very mild punishment or a severe one, depending on the time of year and how cold it is outside.
And Saliba got to experience it in late September, which can’t have been enjoyable.
Arsenal are gearing up for a League Cup clash with Liverpool at Anfield tonight and during yesterday’s session, Gabriel and former Lille team-mate Nicolas Pepe were photographed taking an ear apiece after Saliba dropped the ball.
Here’s some photos from the session:
Arsenal fans would love to see their towering French teenager – a £27 million signing last summer – make his debut tonight.
At 19, Mikel Arteta has protected Saliba from the limelight in a big way by failing to give him the opportunities this season, but the Spaniard is going to have to use his centre-back sooner or later and although Anfield away is hardly the ideal location to make your bow, it is in the League Cup and Liverpool will be naming an under-strength XI.
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