Saliba is surely annoyed about 2020 incident at Arsenal after another World Cup snub – Our View

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Arsenal colossus William Saliba was overlooked once again today as France took on Tunisia at the World Cup.

Didier Deschamps handed opportunities to Matteo Guendouzi, Jordan Veretout, Randal Kolo Muani, Axel Disasi and Youssouf Fofana, seeing as France had already qualified, but there was still no room for Saliba in the starting XI.

Now, we aren’t solely blaming his exclusion on this, although the Arsenal No.12 will surely look back at what happened in 2020 and feel like it may be a contributing factor.

What’s the story?

Well, Arsenal made a real blunder at a crucial stage of Saliba’s development back in 2020.

After the Frenchman returned from a loan spell at Saint-Etienne, the Ligue 1 outfit attempted to bring the defender back in another season-long loan deal, as they confirmed in an official statement.

However, according to that statement, the “administrative conditions could not be met in time in England” and Saliba saw his return to Saint-Etienne collapse, with the French side clearly blaming Arsenal.

The Gunners failed to find an alternative destination, and Saliba wasted six months playing Under-21 football in north London, exclusively appearing in the Premier League 2 and the EFL Trophy.

Saliba eventually completed a loan move to OGC Nice in the second half of the 2020/21 campaign, although he was clearly angered by what had happened, telling RMC Sport: “He (Arteta) judged me on two-and-a-half matches. I would have liked for him to play me more, but he told me I wasn’t ready.

“I was waiting for him to give me a chance, but football is like that.”

Arsenal delayed William Saliba development

The issue with Saliba’s loan to Saint-Etienne came when he was just 19, at a crucial stage of his development.

Of course, it is entirely hypothetical, but there is certainly an argument to say that Saliba would’ve been better placed to challenge for a spot in France’s World Cup XI, and be a better overall player, had he not wasted those crucial six months.

The 21-year-old has obviously still developed into a fantastic footballer, but there is a chance he could’ve been even better at this stage of his career had Arsenal not messed up his loan in 2020.