jayramfootball wrote:theHotHead wrote:jayramfootball wrote:theHotHead wrote:jayramfootball wrote:Özim wrote:The French league is decent, no doubt about that, the only ones trying to discredit it are those trying to do undermine Saliba, so many top players have come from there and there are many others currently there.
As for Arteta clearly he wasn’t honest about bringing him back as not only did he not, he bought someone else. It’s clearly a personal issue and nothing to do with this training or U23 nonsense.
Saliba is plenty good enough for the PL and to play for us. I reckon he’s got the potential to be a top CB, we need Arteta to get the boot for that happen with us though.
I sincerely hope he does so we get to see Saliba in an Arsenal shirt.
Undermine Saliba?????????
OK to undermine the entire club, though.
He's a kid who is on loan in a weaker league to try and get ready for the big time in the PL.
Let's hope he does because it is good for everyone.
If he does make it, then the credit goes to Arteta for not exposing him too early to the difficulty of the PL and properly nurturing his career.
Jay, explain to me how loaning Saliba to a French team benefits us.
It was Saliba's choice to go to a French team. He didn't want to go to a PL team. Could have been homesick, could have just been struggling, could be a very self-aware young man and knew he needed more time. Who knows?
I would have preferred he went to a PL team or stayed with us, but he didn't... and now he just needs to work on his game for Marseille.
It serves no purpose at all to use the guy to score Arteta bad points - if anything it is just going to make it harder on him when/if he comes back. Because the way he's being talked up - totally unjustified - is going to make the expectation that he's Van Dijk level from day 1. The same people playing games to score points now will be the ones blaming the next manager or Arteta (if he is still here) if Saliba comes back and is not brilliant.
Not according to the Arsenal website. An interview with Edu states:
Technical director Edu said: “William Saliba is a player with a huge amount of talent and potential. We’re confident he will have a great career with us but we must remember that he is still only 19 years old and has a lot of time ahead of him.
"William experienced a very challenging time last year, with his playing time limited by injury and the early ending of the Ligue 1 season due to the pandemic.
"So together with William, we have decided that spending the rest of the season on loan with Nice is the best way for him to develop. We will be keeping in close contact with William during his time with Nice and look forward to seeing him make good progress until the end of the season.”
An interview with Arteta states:
“In order for him to do that I think we have found the right club with him, he is very happy to go there right now and hopefully he can enjoy his football and be ready for us next season.”
The first comment is from the previous loan.
For the last word on it, listen to Saliba himself:
William Saliba on Marseille loan move: “Arsenal preferred that I go to England but I knew this was the right choice.”
At his official presentation in front of the press this afternoon, centre-back William Saliba explained his decision to join Marseille on loan, indicating that it had been a personal decision to return to France.
His words transcribed in Eurosport, the French defender explained that he had been quickly won over by the OM project after speaking to manager Jorge Sampaoli and president Pablo Longoria.
Saliba had spent last season on loan at Nice, having been at Saint-Étienne the campaign before. The youth international had been loaned back to his first club by Arsenal after a €30m move, and has since yet to break into the Gunners’ first team.
Despite his parent club favouring a move to England, Saliba has revealed that he had pushed to remain in France for the season to come.
“I’m the one who chose to go to Marseille, they [Arsenal] preferred that I go to England, but I knew that coming here was the right choice, so I really pushed for this.”
“I spoke with the coach [Jorge Sampaoli] and Pablo [Longoria, OM president], and I was quickly convinced.”
“I’m young, I’m 20 and I haven’t proven anything yet. I still have many aspects to fix and areas in which I can progress.”
In addition, read the last comment from Saliba himself.
I do not have a problem with him, only those that are using him to gin up their agenda.
The kid himself seems to have a good head on his shoulders and knows he's not the finished article yet.
It was from the from previous loan yes and Arteta said he would play the following season (this season) and he’s sent him out on loan again.
As for the 2nd bit, clearly a 20 year old has things to learn, it’s good he acknowledges that, but that doesn’t mean he’s not already very good, his performances suggest he is. As I said Fofana is the same age, from the same league and same team (and wasn’t as highly rated) and has had no problem, in fact quite the opposite he’s been very good and has found the PL fine.
You say that but it’s clear you do have an issue because you talk about selling him off and not being good enough playing in a weak league and discredit all his performances with reasons why he was apparently not that good.
You’ve made countless excuses but the truth is none stand up to scrutiny because we’ve been playing guys like Holding, Chambers and even Kolasinac at CB, even though they’ve not been good enough for years.
On top of that Saliba has been excellent on loan and the whole thing about loans is when a player performs well they come back and are given a chance, that’s how it works.
