What should Arsenal do with William Saliba?

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What should Arsenal do with William Saliba? 

By Tom Masters


Arsenal purchased William Saliba from AS Saint-Etienne for £27m in the summer of 2019, but after over two years, he is still yet to make an appearance for the club having immediately been sent back on loan to the French side.
 
Since then, he has gone on loan twice more, with Nice last season, and Marseille this season, where he has been superb. 
 
Marseille have benefitted from having the French defender at the heart of their defence, with the 20-year-old playing all but one match this season, keeping six clean sheets in his 13 matches this season. 
 
As a result of his good current form, Marseille sit fourth in Ligue 1, just one point off Champions League qualification, which has prompted Arsenal fans to question whether or not they should be keeping hold of Saliba or not?  

Arsenal defence 

With the signing of Ben White from Brighton and Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna in the summer, Arsenal find themselves in a much more solid defensive position than they’ve been in for a very long time. 
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With Gabriel also in the central defensive position, and the likes of Rob Holding, Pablo Mari and Callum Chambers, Arsenal are more than set for centrebacks. 
 
They have also been defensively sound in recent weeks, conceding just 13 goals in 11 matches this season, and five clean sheets in the previous eight matches. 

Is there space for Saliba? 

Arsenal have been playing Tomiyasu on the right side of the defence this season, with Gabriel and White adopting the central defensive positions, whilst Mari and Holding and Chambers have featured in the Premier League and Cups. 

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Thus, there does not appear to be space in the squad for Saliba, at least not without removing at least one defensive option, and it is not yet clear if Mikel Arteta would want to do that.  

Verdict 

Saliba was an expensive transfer at £27m and holds a market value of £16.2m according to Transfermarkt, it is also rumoured that Marseille are looking to make the deal permanent for the French defender. 
 
If Arsenal could recoup a decent proportion of the fee of the £27m they paid for Saliba, it may be time to part ways with him. 
 
Defensively they appear in good shape, whilst Saliba himself has yet to feature in the Premier League, thus there is no guarantee that he would be able to make that leap. 

Verdict: Sell 

PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES

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