Speaking on his YouTube channel, Arsenal journalist Charles Watts has been discussing William Saliba and his future at the Emirates.
Saliba arrived at Arsenal way back in 2019 and he joined with a lot of hype surrounding him – the Gunners even spent £27m to secure his services that summer.
However, despite the fact Saliba was a big-money signing, he’s yet to play a single minute of football for Arsenal’s first-team, and he’s been sent out on loan on three separate occasions.
Saliba has been shining at Marseille this summer, and inevitably, that’s led to questions about his future at Arsenal.
Watts says that his future will be decided at the end of the season where he will either sign a new contract and battle for his place at Arsenal or be sold.
What’s been said?
Watts was speaking about Saliba.
“You look at what Saliba is doing with Marseille and yes, it’s frustrating and you want to see him doing that for Arsenal because of how much they spent on him and how talented he is. However, it looks like a good loan for him in terms of development. You’d rather have him playing there in games against PSG than it is against Leeds where he would have gotten some minutes and then come Saturday he’d probably be back out of the team,” Watts said.
“He’s developing and he’s going to come back at the end of next season as a much better player than the one that left Arsenal this summer, and then what will be will be after that. That will be decided in the summer one way or another. You would think next summer is D-Day when it comes to Saliba and Arsenal, it’s either sign a new contract and finally get a chance to lay down a claim for a spot in the team, or ultimately, be sold.”
Crucial spell
These next few months are absolutely crucial for Saliba if he wants to have a future at Arsenal.
The Frenchman is clearly a talented player, but for one reason or another, he hasn’t quite convinced Mikel Arteta.
These next few months may be his last chance to prove to Arteta that he’s worthy of playing for Arsenal, because, as Watts says, with two years left on his deal, there will be a decision to be made at the end of the season.
This is certainly a situation to keep an eye on.
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