The future William Saliba has been a huge discussion at Arsenal as he yet to play any competitive match under Mikel Arteta.
The 19-year-old defender has been on the fringe even before his Arsenal career started. This has made his lawyer set up a meeting with the Arsenal board this week.
Former Arsenal coach, Unai Emery signed the Frenchman for £27m from Sainte Ettiene in the 2019 summer transfer window.
According to L’Équipe, the central defender’s lawyer will meet with Arsenal’s board this week to discuss his future after Mikel Arteta chose to not to feature him in his first 6 months with the club.
Since his return to the team after his loan deal with his former club, Saliba has been playing for the reserves. He only played a preseason game under Arteta against Brentford.
What’s next for Saliba at Arsenal under Arteta?
What remains to be ironed out is if the Arsenal board will sanction a love move for him. It was gathered that they are working towards a loan deal since he seems to be out of favour with Arteta.
This has made St Étienne be hopeful of bringing him back to the club on loan after failing to bring him back on loan during the final day of the summer transfer window owing to Arsenal taking their eye off the ball with administrative details.
Meanwhile, there is a likelihood that the Ligue 1 club will ferocious competition for Saliba’s services. Some European clubs would also like to sign him, as well as Premier League teams.
Arsenal might favour a move to a Premier League club so as to be able to monitor his progress. Sources have said that such a move could be embarrassing for the Gunners should the player end up outperforming all Arsenal defenders in the second half of the campaign.
Based on Arsenal’s recent form, if Saliba joins another Premier League club, Saliba who is known for good individual showings could prove to be a good asset to whichever club he joins as they may finish ahead of Arsenal in the league standings.
Saliba’s future won’t be Arteta’s concern right now as he continues to battle to save his job after losing more than the number of games he has won as a manager.
This has made his future become more and more complicated by the day. Who knows if the Arsenal manager will be in charge of the job at the end of January? Time and further results will tell.
