Mikel Arteta announces why Arsenal silent treatment was given to £60M star ahead of move
Mikel Arteta revealed he gave William Saliba the silent treatment to see if he had the character to succeed at ARSENAL
Saliba was signed a few seasons ago after the Gunners beat off a number of top clubs to seal his signature.
However – he failed to make an immediate impact at the Emirates and has spent the last few seasons out on loan – where he has established himself as one of the best young players in the game.
Arteta admits that he harboured plenty of doubts about Saliba when he returned to the club last summer after spending three years out on loan at Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille.
But it only took the young Frenchman a couple of days to convince his boss that he was going to become a key Emirates player for many years to come.
Also Read: £80M attacker Arsenal wants announces if he will make transfer move to Premier League
And he certainly wasn’t sure that the rookie defender was ready to play a key role in his team despite making his senior international debut for France before he had even played a game for the Gunners.
Arteta said: “For William’s first week back at the club, I didn’t speak to him at all.
“I just wanted to see what he was like without interfering with his thoughts and get to know the real player.
“There were a lot of questions that needed to be answered and the first was how he was going to reintegrate into our dynamic after being away for so long.
“I needed to know if there was some frustration with me or the environment because he could not understand being out on loan.
“There were questions about the amount we had paid for him and about his own expectations coming back to Arsenal.
“Because doing it in France is not the same as doing it in this league with ARSENAL and you don’t have 21-year-old defenders at the top level in England.”
IcFootballnews View…
The best thing that Arteta done was bring Saliba back – he has been brilliant this season.
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For me I will say Saliba was sent on loan two times by Arsenal because the first loan was a condition saint Etienne gave before they will sell him to Arsenal but all the same the loan helped him that is why he is where is today and it makes him learn a lot and solely believe that will also happen to Folarin Balogun when he comes back I fate in him the he is going to be a top striker in time to come what he will need when he comes back is for the coach to trust him and give him minutes, for William Saliba he will soon be a house hold name in few years to come by that time he will be rugged already he is strong