William Saliba's contract clause, spat with Arteta and "waste of money" claim
After a sensational debut season for Arsenal, William Saliba is already viewed as one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
He may only be 22 years old, but the Frenchman boasts the kind of technical quality and composure that defies his age. Saliba's rise to one of the first names on the Gunners team-sheet is all the more remarkable when factoring in the obstacles he has faced since signing for Arsenal in the summer of 2019.
For such young shoulders, Saliba seems comfortable with the weight of responsibility of marshalling the Arsenal backline as well as being a key cog when it comes to building attacks and playing out from the back under pressure. With that in mind, Mirror Football has analysed some of the defining moments of the France international's Emirates stay.
Contract clause
Mikel Arteta always wanted William Saliba to stay at ArsenalHAVE YOUR SAY! Where does Saliba rank among the Premier League's best defenders? Comment below
It is well-documented by now that though Saliba was signed in 2019, it took three years for him to actually play a competitive fixture for Arsenal. That's because he was sent out on loan on three separate occasions as all of Emery, current boss Mikel Arteta and sporting director Edu didn't deem him ready for first-team football in north London.
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Saliba was sent back to Saint-Etienne when he first joined, which came as no surprise. However, in January 2021 the centre-back joined OGC Nice having been left out of Arsenal's Europa League squad, which came as a surprise to many fans and pundits alike.
By the time he joined Marseille for the entire 2021/22 season, most had written off Saliba's chances of forging a career at Arsenal and believed he would leave the club having played no games, despite his £27million fee. That is clearly not something that went through the head of Arteta.
In all of Saliba's loan spells, none of the deals had any sort of option or obligation to buy clause inserted, which is a strong indicator that Arteta always viewed the defender's long-term future at Arsenal. The Gunners boss basically said as much after his underwhelming return to Saint-Etienne - loan number one.
"For many reasons, that wasn't the transition year that he needed because he had a lot of injuries, some personal injuries and also with COVID and the French league getting cancelled, he didn't have that year," Arteta said in late 2020. "He needs that year of transition and we are trying to make the right decisions for him to give him the best transitional year for him to have the player we want in our future."
Saliba's fury
William Saliba made his frustrations clear to the media (Getty)None of this is to say that the defender took being sent out on loan three times on the chin with no complaints or feelings of frustration. Soon after his temporary switch to Nice was confirmed, Saliba threatened to curtail his Arsenal career by speaking out against Arteta and the call to send him away once again.
"The coach immediately told me that I was not ready," he told French media. "I would have at least liked to have had a chance to rediscover my rhythm. But this is football, it's like that."
Shortly after, he doubled down on that stance to RMC's 'Top of the Foot' show, adding: "It is clear that so much has changed in the last year. When I saw that the coach changed a lot changed for me too. In this year there has been a lot of change.
"He 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.
"When I initially came to Arsenal the league looked very good so I showed up to training and wanted to train on my own to show the coach I was ready. I am happy now, I want to play for Nice. The idea when you're part of a team is a better feeling for me."
Waste of money
Rio Ferdinand suggested William Saliba was a "waste of money" back in 2021 (YouTube)Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was one of many prominent pundits to question Arteta's handling of Saliba. The ex-England international had gone as far as to suggest that the Gunners had wasted their money buying the Frenchman.
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"I still think Arsenal need a top centre half, all the problems stem from that," Ferdinand told his FIVE YouTube channel. "You’ve got a great nucleus of young players, there’s seven or eight young players there who everyone is talking about.
"But you’ve got to put the pieces around them and that’s the big problem. That’s been the big problem with recruitment at Arsenal for so long. Saliba, what’s happened with him? It’s a waste of money it seems at the minute. I don’t know what’s happened."
Ferdinand's comments came at the start of Saliba's loan spell in January 2021, meaning there was a third stint away from Arsenal still to come months after the United icon's assessment. His stance is unlikely to have changed when seeing the defender don the Marseille shirt the very next season.
Turning the tide
William Saliba is all smiles at Arsenal nowadaysAnd yet, somehow, here we are. Saliba is now the foundation for an Arsenal side challenging for titles and playing in the Champions League once again. The loan spells came and went, but Arteta's long-term plan for one of the most gifted defenders this generation has appears to have worked.
Not only has he played a blinder on the pitch, Saliba is seemingly incredibly happy with the state of play off of it.
"We have very good atmosphere here," he recently told club media. "Every day we have a laugh, we have a joke, we like being round each other, but when we are on the pitch we go hard and we are serious. It’s important to have both – you cannot do one without the other."
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