There is room to accommodate William Saliba, Ben White and Gabriel, feels Mikel Arteta
William Saliba has made 9 Ligue 1 appearances for Olympique Marseille
|Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes that there is room for him to accommodate William Saliba, alongside Ben White and Gabriel into the first-team squad. The Frenchman defender is currently on loan with Olympique Marseille, and has been one of the best defenders in the French top tier this season.
With Arsenal beating Tottenham and a handful of other clubs to William Saliba’s signature in the summer of 2019, a lot has been expected from the defender. However, the 20-year-old has struggled to play regularly for Arsenal with the Frenchman instead sent out on loan back to France. It has seen Saliba take on his third loan spell in France this season, after time with St Etienne and OGC Nice.
Now at Olympique Marseille, Saliba has become arguably one of the best defenders in France with him earning rave reviews for his performances for the Ligue 1 giants. It saw raised questions about his future at Arsenal but Mikel Arteta has admitted that the club is in touch with Saliba and Marseille, and are keeping an eye on the Frenchman’s performances. Not only that, the Arsenal boss added that he believes that there is “room to accommodate” Saliba, Ben White and Gabriel in the first-team somewhere down the line.
"Yes, as a club we are always in touch. They went to see that game. Edu and Ben [Knapper, Arsenal loan manager] were there to watch him and keep a close eye on him and the progress he is making. Obviously he is our player and we do with all the loan players that we have," Arteta said at a press conference.
"That is a decision we will make in the summer. Obviously he is our player and naturally that will happen. We will have to sit down and decide what the next step is next. I think there is room [to accommodate him, Ben White and Gabriel]. Again, it will depend on what happens with other players and that’s not a conversation to have now."
