Jamie O’Hara has apologised for suggesting Arsenal should try to sell William Saliba as the young defender could be a ‘sensational’ player following his Premier League breakthrough.
Jamie O’Hara admits criticism of Arsenal’s William Saliba was ‘absolutely’ wrong
Mikel Arteta has ‘the real deal’ in his ranks in William Saliba following his outstanding start to life as a Premier League defender. That is the view of Jamie O’Hara, who told talkSPORT that he was ‘absolutely’ wrong to suggest Arsenal should try to sell the young Frenchman.
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Saliba returned to the Emirates Stadium this summer and is finally enjoying his first chance to feature in north London. Unai Emery bought the 21-year-old from Saint-Etienne in 2019 for £27m, but agreed to let him remain at the former Ligue 1 outfit on loan for the season.
Arteta was then not assured of Saliba’s ability when the centre-back first trained under the Spaniard in 2020. A loan move to OGC Nice also followed in January 2021, before spending the 2021/22 campaign in France once again after securing a season-long loan to Marseille.
His form at the Stade Velodrome led to Saliba making his France debut before his Arsenal bow this March. Didier Deschamps also started the Bondy-born talent in three of his five caps, before Arteta let Saliba start the Gunners’ opening two games of the new campaign.
Jamie O’Hara believes Mikel Arteta could have a ‘sensational’ talent in his squad
Saliba handled a potentially dangerous Crystal Palace attack with great success during his Arsenal debut earlier this month. Rarely could the Eagles force the Frenchman into making a mistake, or leaving space in front of Aaron Ramsdale for Patrick Vieira’s squad to exploit.
His exploits at Selhurst Park left Arteta with no choice but to keep faith in the 6 ft 3 star at home to Leicester City. A justified decision, with Saliba barely putting a foot wrong but for an unfortunate own goal when his header bounced in whilst he tried to intercept a cross.
What Saliba has shown in two games for Arsenal has been enough to convince O’Hara that the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder was wrong to suggest Arteta should try and sell the centre-half based on spending two-and-a-half of his three Gunners terms out on loan.
“I wasn’t sure of him because he’d gone out on loan, I hadn’t seen him play loads. I was thinking, maybe he wasn’t up to scratch to play for this team,” O’Hara admitted. “And I’ll apologise, I absolutely got that wrong. He is the real deal, what a signing.
“What a player he is, and I know that he’s young but he could be sensational. He’s still got things to work on, like his positioning, but he looks really, really good.”
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