Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta may not consider William Saliba good enough to play for the Gunners week in and week out, but the defender could beat the likes of Mason Greenwood, Bukayo Saka, Tottenham Hotspur’s Bryan Gil and Rayan Ait-Nouri to the Golden Boy award.
What’s the story?
Tuttosport have included Arsenal-owned defender Saliba in the shortlist of 40 players for the Golden Boy award.
The Italian publication have released the 40-man list, and Saliba, now on loan at Marseille, is included in it.
United forward Greenwood, Arsenal attacker Saka, Tottenham winger Gil and Ait-Nouri of Wolverhampton Wanderers are among the other nominees for the prestigious award.
Message for Arsenal?
Saliba is clearly rated highly on the continent, and perhaps this is a message that Arsenal and Arteta need to hear.
The 20-year-old central defender could not make a single appearance in the Premier League during the first half of last season and was sent out on loan to Nice in January 2021.
Arteta clearly did not think that the youngster is ready to play week in and week out for Arsenal, which is why the Frenchman went out on loan again in the summer transfer window, this summer to Marseille.
Saliba and Gil are two of the best young players in Europe, and it will be interesting to see if either of them win the Golden Boy award.
Gil, who has played six times for Spain, joined Tottenham from Sevilla in the summer transfer window.
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