‘PRESSURE FROM FANS’: Mikel Arteta says he was under extreme pressure to start £40,000-a-week youngster, he WILL START today
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted that there was a lot of external pressure on him before the start of this season to give William Saliba an opportunity.
The Frenchman spent three years on Arsenal’s books without playing a single minute of competitive football. He was loaned out to Saint-Etienne in 2019, Nice in 2021 and Marseille for the whole of last season.
Saliba‘s future was up in the air at the end of last term, but he’s now one of Arsenal’s first names on the team sheet every week.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says he was under huge external pressure to use William Saliba
Saliba was a teenager when Arsenal signed him back in 2019.
It was agreed in the deal that he would spend the 2019/20 campaign back on loan at Saint-Etienne, but everyone expected him to be given an opportunity at Arsenal in the following season.
Unai Emery was sacked and Arteta had arrived, and the then-new Gunners boss did not believe he was ready. He kept him away from his side in the first half of that campaign before loaning him out for the next 18 months – first to Nice and then to Marseille.
When he returned for pre-season last summer, Arsenal fans were desperate to see him in action, and Arteta admitted that he could feel that external pressure.
The Spaniard said, as relayed on HaytersTV: “I was 100 per cent sure that I was going to have a lot of pressure externally to give him the opportunity – that was for sure.
“And obviously, I was really willing to find out what we found out in pre-season. Then it was the perfect storm and a beautiful relationship started to build there. And he has done what he has done this season.”
Our View:
Saliba has become a star at Arsenal.
The £40,000-a-week (Spotrac) Frenchman is loved by everyone associated with the club, and his performances this season have been extraordinary considering that he’s still only 21 years old.
Saliba has played every single game in the Premier League for Arsenal this season, and that isn’t likely to change today when the Gunners take on Bournemouth at the Emirates.
The last time Saliba faced the Cherries, he scored a stunner with his weak foot. Arsenal fans would love to see him do the same again this afternoon.
