Today Arsenal were linked with Brighton’s Ben White. Reports are the South Coast side are demanding £40million for him.
I like Ben White.
He performed well ofr Leeds in the Champions last season, and had a decent season for Brighton in the Premier League this.
He is a ball playing centre back who is a level ahead of Rob Holding, and would potentially make a good partner to Gabriel.
But the link to White has woken up the William Saliba fan boys from their slumber.
Some Arsenal fans have a really unhealthy relationship with Saliba.
They talk about him like he is already a superstar. That he would be one of the best centre backs in the Premier League.
Everytime Arsenal are linked with a central defender, they cry foul play and screa Saliba’s name at the top of their voices.
But how much have they actually seen of him? Probably a handful of games in Ligue 1.
The only time he pulled on the Arsenal senior shirt – in a pre-season friendly against Milton Keynes Dons last summer – he was poor.
Now he is still a kid. Just 20-years-old. So may well develop into a beast of a defender. So I am not writing him off.
But I am also not buying into the hype that is going on.
It feels at times that those hyping Saliba are doing so for the sole reason that they do not like Mikel Arteta.
It is simple in their minds – any player that Arteta does not select regularly (Saliba, Reiss Nelson, Gabriel Martinelli) is a superstar. Anyone that Arteta likes (Holding, Hector Bellerin, Bukaya Saka) is overatted. Average.
Some fans really do have an unhealthy obession with a player who has yet to make his senior debut for Arsenal. The fact he has “fan accounts” is very odd.
So we awake today with Arsenal being linked to a very good English central defender; and instead ob eing excited about his signing Twitter has gone into overdrive hyping up a player that they have hardly seen.
Saliba is not in the French squad for Euro 2021. He does not even get into their U21 squad. The last time he was picked for a French side was in 2019 for their U21s.
So when you break it down, Saliba was signed under Unai Emery and loaned straight out. Arteta was also happy to see him loaned out. Didier Deschamps prefers Kurt Zouma for the senior squad. And Sylvain Ripoll has yet to call him up to the U21.
That is 4 managers. All of whom have yet to give him a minutes play.
I hope Saliba is giving a chance at Arsenal. But he gets that chance when he is ready.
If the management believe Ben White is a better option. We back that.
The biggest worry is we sign White, there will be a group of fans hoping he makes a mistake and costs Arsenal posts so that they continue tweeting their obession over Saliba. they would not want White, or Arsenal, to suceed.
Have a good Saturday
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Only if I know what is wrong in the head of some arsenal fans…most times,they are our downfall!
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Not really, i feel we have other areas we need to spend the 50 million other than center back. Center back is actually the least in order of priority. I would rather spend those money on buendia and a right back. You may say buendia is unproven, but most premiership proven top attacking mid fielders like greenish are out of our spending power. If fabregas and Carzola are still playing at there peak, they would be worth 70 million euro or more. Buendia is the most likely player to be able to match that level of talent, and 35 million euro, it is pure stupidity for arteta and Co to fail to sign him up. Just like many of artetas decisions, this will definitely come back to hunt us.
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Man, have you not got a spell-check, or are you just too ignorant to use it? To be honest, after deciphering what you were trying to say, I realise it was a waster of time. You’re a buffoon mate.
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Harsh post.
Why?
If a team like Arsenal spend the best part of £30m on a player then it is understandable that the fans would want to see him play. Especially two years later.
To use the “He had a poor game early in pre season” as a reason to freeze him out is also harsh given that early pre season games are there to build up rhythm.
For example, if one of our summer signings plays below par in a early July friendly, should we look to get rid…?
Finally regarding the French U21 team. The two starting CB’s for them are Umpacano and Kanoute (both formerly of RB Leipzig, recently joined Bayern and Liverpool for big money).
No shame there for Saliba.
I’m not saying Saliba will be the answer or not, but the fact he made the French team of the year despite joining half way through the season and previous form convinced us to spend our 2nd highest ever outlay on a CB would at least suggest he deserves a chance to sink or swim.
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Where did anybody say otherwise?
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3)On the fact he is coming from French league is also another excuse,Fofana and your Gabriel also came from that league last season and played extremely well even with the fact that he (fofana) was a junior to Saliba in terms of potentials at Saint etienne,he should be given game time to prove himself, if he flops then no qualm he can be judged then.
4)More rants from the writer on the pre season game,my dear no good manager that has the interest of a player in mind will use one or two pre season game to judge a player with potentials,lots of top players out there today had managers who believed in them,he Arteta was an injury prone player but Le Prof had faith in him,Lukaku missed a penalty during the pre season and was sold by Chelsea but Lukaku is now a great goal poacher.
#ARTETAOUT
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This post is meaningless without any fact to back it up,
1)Saliba being loaned back by Emery was part of the deal that brought him to Arsenal from Saint etienne.
2)Even the highly rated carmavinga and upemecano did not go to world cup including Martial,so saliba not going is just an excuse not fact. it is called experience and age over talent and age.
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Sorry for here with you in this. I fully welcome the signing of Ben White becuase I truly believe he is an excellent player capable of covering at CB, RB, and DM. He also can play out from the back and can pick a pass. So all qualities we require disparately. It also saves us buying a right back.
I however feel that Saliba deserves a. Chance to compete for his spot now.
It’s very possible that Arteta won’t even be even be here come Christmas. If he does a repeat of last Autum he will be out
The jury is very much still out in Arteta and Edu who I truly believe both are learning in the job.
Especially Edu right now it’s very very clear he is totally out of his depth and has been since he arrived.
He simply does not have that deep of a contact book and ability to unearth gems that a Luis Campos or Monchi would.
I have been screaming for a over two years for us to appoint Luis Campos a DoF.
He would ironically make the Kronekes look good, who I also feel should sell up and get as far away from Arsenal as.possible. They are nothing more than parasites on Arsenal as are running the club into the ground as they do with all their other franchises.
Back to Saliba, the boy is clearly very talented. His ceili g is higher than both Holding and Chambers.
So who is going to be sold if White is bought? Holding and Chambers are Kate’s with Arteta from their playing days and I get it he needs to have loyalty in tie dressing room and also English. I like both of them but we know what they are. Nothing more.than good back ups.
Saliba and Gabriel and White and Mari can he a PL League winning combination with Holding and Chambers as back up. White and Chambers can also play RB and DM. So versatilty is there. AMN would have to he sold for sure.
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So the writer doesn’t is ignorant of the fact that Saliba has been banned by the French FA for some silly video while in camp with the U21s? Why is Arteta so obsessed with getting a central defender when the problem lies in central midfield with Partey lacking a good partner? We need a central midfield partner/competitor to Partey and a striker to compete with Lacazette. IMHO
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That video was from years ago, how long’s this fucking ban then?
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Saliba is better than white, he just need a chance
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