William Saliba (2)

[alexafc12]

If we're to keep him than surely we need to tie him down to a new deal ?

2 years left on his current one. If he performs well in the Prem this year we're going to be screwed. Either he holds us to ransom for huge wages or we agree a cut price deal.

The club should have renewed him when agreeing to loan him to Marseille.

[theHotHead]

Right and the only reason we haven't is because people didn't rate him/didnt think he would become the asset that it was obvious he would become. Thats why they didnt fully invest in him.

So contrary to the arguments made by some Arteta had no clue how good this player really was, so much for his ability to assess players !

[Salibatelli]

Saliba and Martinelli are now officially homegrown players. (Registered for 3 years prior to turning 21.)

Homegrown is a strange term in this scenario when a player has never even featured for his club and was bought and spent his entire career abroad.

[Est83]

The feeling I get from Saliba is that he feels hurt by the way he has been treated. Lets not ignore his age, would you want to go back to a manager that loaned you out for 2 seasons and didnt give you a fair opportunity ???

Ultimately I think youre right. Saliba’s experience over three years has been that he’s told he’s not ready and not wanted. At Marseille, he was loved and the first name on the team sheet. In his eyes, Marseille is a bigger club than Arsenal. If he were a free agent, Arsenal wouldn’t have a chance of landing him over Marseille to be honest.

Bigger club? Is that purely based on CL qualification?

If he stayed and didn't get games, it'd be like Odegaard at Madrid, not getting a chance, day by day lowering his potential. That, surely, is more frustrating than going out on loan for three seasons.

I get that he feels overlooked, but he's literally only as good as he is because he's had three seasons with plenty of game time that he just wouldn't have got at any top club. Did Emery beat anyone to his signature? From my memory only Totscum were after him, and he said that he sees us as the biggest club in England and one that he grew up watching.

I hope this can be smoothed over.

I understand what you are trying to say but I think it important that we make the distinction - Saliba didn't improve because he went on loan, he improved because he was top young player. Just like Fabregas and RVP, they didn't improve because of Wenger, they would've under any manager. Wenger gave them game time but thats yer lot.

Saliba would've improved going anywhere

Kind of my point though. If you don't get enough game time during important developmental years, you're potentially stunted.

Saliba is obviously a quality player, but he's improved massively in part due to the extra minutes, as Fabregas and RVP did.

The loans have made him better.

[Highbury Hillbilly]

Saliba and Martinelli are now officially homegrown players. (Registered for 3 years prior to turning 21.)

Homegrown is a strange term in this scenario when a player has never even featured for his club and was bought and spent his entire career abroad.

It's a ridiculous technicality. You shouldn't be able to claim HG unless the player spent at least a year in the academy, or played first team football for us before turning 18.

[Salibatelli]

I totally agree with you, I’m amazed this wasn’t considered when bringing in this rule.

[Zenith]

[theHotHead]

Its the right move but I am still pissed that it is at least a season and a half too late!!

Better late than never, fine, but im still pissed with the idiots managing the club.

[swipe right]

Marseille has tabled a 26 mil bid. Saliba wants the move. He won’t sign a new deal which means this is the max we can get. Game over.

[alexafc12]

Lol what are they smoking over there.

French young player of the year. French international. 21. Homegrown.

How much are Ajax demanding for that Timber pubber - £50m ?

[alexafc12]

Fantastic news if true.

[theHotHead]

Yeah lets hope this story is true and Swipey's story is wrong

[swipe right]

Marseille know this is a 60 mil player they can get for 26 mil. The player doesn’t trust Arteta and won’t sit on the bench. He gets to not only start at marseille but play champions league. It’s a non story. Let’s move on.

[elkanofan]

Rumors he will get a new contract.

We would be f***ing morons if we sell. Arteta needs to get his head out his aas and use him

[Highbury Hillbilly]

Rumors he will get a new contract.

We would be f***ing morons if we sell. Arteta needs to get his head out his aas and use him

We may well be chasing his signature all season like we did with Eddie.