Arsenal pull off “masterstroke” with William Saliba development

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He arrived with a huge weight of expectation in 2019.

William Saliba was labelled “The Mbappe of centre backs” by some following his £27 million transfer to Arsenal aged 18.

Some were putting him straight in the first team, already claiming he was one of the best centre backs in Europe.

Saliba was an exciting prospect, but it was clear to the majority that he still had a long way to go in his development.

His fans seem to forget that he arrived at the club at such a tender age with just 16 senior appearances in France. He was a clear talent but needed development.

As part of the deal with Saint-Étienne, Saliba remained in France for the next season.

That season was beset with injury.

A hamstring injury caused him to be out of the first quarter of the season, and a broken metatarsal led him to miss 8 games in the middle. Those injuries and Covid led him to make just 16 starts in what was supposed to be his first full season of senior football.

He begun 2020/21 at Arsenal, but failed to make a single start in the league and was left out of the Europa League squad.

At the time, Arteta was asked about Saliba’s continued absence on a number of occasions and it is believed language issues and the death of his mother contributed to the France Under-20 international’s slow adaptation to life in England.

“For many reasons, that [last season] wasn’t the transition year that he needed because he had a lot of injuries, some personal issues and also with COVID and the French league getting cancelled, he didn’t have that year,” Arteta said when asked about Saliba’s loan spell.

“He needs that year of transition and we are trying to make the right decisions for him to give him the best transitional year to have the player we want in our future.”

Saliba was supposed to return to Saint-Étienne that summer.

“Unfortunately, all the administrative conditions could not be met in time, in England, for the completion of the deal,” a club statement read.

“The disappointment is great for ASSE and William Saliba, who was particularly determined to return to a club where he has flourished.”

In January, he joined Nice where he quickly established himself as a first team regular.

With Ben White joining in the summer of 2021 to play alongside Gabriel Magalhães, Saliba had still yet to have a full season of senior football playing week in, week out.

That summer, some argued that Saliba was superior to White. But White was clearly ahead in his development having played a full season of Premier League football the year before – and a full Championship season the year before that.

Saliba had yet to experience an English game, was still just 20 and had not played a full season of senior football.

It was decided that another season on loan was what was needed to continue his development.

At Marseille, Saliba has got the game time he would not gained at Arsenal. And he has dramatically improved as a player as a result.

He has played 40 games this season and his form has led him to get a France call-up.

Considering the form of White and Gabriel (Arsenal have conceded the 5th least goals in the league), their fitness (neither has missed a league game since Man City away) and the lack of European football, Saliba would simply not have got an opportunity.

Saliba returns next season with a full season of senior football under his belt and ready to contribute to the first team. And he will be barely 21.

Next season, with a return of European football, Arsenal will need 3 front line centre backs.

White and Gabriel will start, with Saliba being their cover at right and left centre back.

To see the increase workload, take a look at the appearances of defenders at those 3 times above us

Ruben Dias (33), Laporte (31) & John Stones (20) at Manchester City. Virgil van Dijk (38), Joel Matip (33) & Ibrahima Konaté (19) at Liverpool; and Antonio Rudiger (33), Thiago Silva (27) & Andreas Christensen (22) at Chelsea.

Next season, White, Gabriel and Saliba will all play over 30 games across all competitions. With Rob Holding backing them up.

Saliba’s progress at Arsenal might not have been as fast as some had hoped. But slow and steady wins the race.

Next season Saliba will be “like a new signing”. He returns to the club, ready to contribute, with over 100 games under his belt – and potentially a few French caps.

The future is bright; the future is Arsenal.

Keenos

Dybala, Auba, Xhaka and More…

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The controversy over Granit Xhaka’s yellow rages on.

Premier League Match Official Dermott Gallagher has stated the Swiss midfield “had it coming”, backing his colleagues decision to book Xhaka for persistent fouling after just one infringement.

It is time TV companies stopped using refs (and ex-refs) as pundits.

They add nothing to the game and spend their time performing mental gymnastics to support the man in black on the field.

Imagine if Roy Keane never criticised Manchester United, or Ian Wright only ever praised Arsenal. They would soon be dropped for pundits who give a more balanced opinion.

Pundit refs all have an agenda. And that agenda is “what narrative can I spin to back my colleagues poor decision”. Time for them to go.

There is still some talk about Arsenal being wrong to let Auba leave after his two goals against Real Madrid.

Auba himself has recently addressed this explaining the move has suited both parties.

Arsenal have won 10 from the last 13 league games since Auba was dropped. Auba has re-found his scoring boots since leaving us.

The deal suited all parties. And all parties have benefited from it. Time to move on.

Talking about strikers, it was announced that Juventus would not be renewing Paolo Dybla’s contract. This has led to a whole load of Twitter accounts saying “Manchester City / Liverpool / Chelsea / Arsenal / Manchester United fans (delete as applicable), would you take Dybala?”

And the answer from us should be no.

Our transfer dealings over the last 12 months have been excellent. We have signed players who fit a certain profile – 24 and under, talented, fit and hungry.

Dybala does not fall into any of these categories.

At 28-years-old, he is coming up to “last big contract” territory where whoever he joins will be tying up huge wages in a 4 or 5 year deal on a player quite clearly past his best.

Dybala is injury prone and has not consistently performed to a high level since 2018.

He would destroy the wage structure Edu has implemented and we have “been there, done that” giving an underperforming striker a huge contract.

Whoever comes in up top needs to fit in with the rest of the young and hungry players we have.

If we sign Dybala, we might as well have just kept Auba.

Last thing to note. We have complained for years about the lack of thought for travelling fans when it comes to arranging games.

Making Arsenal fans travel for games when the last train has already left – or no trains at all due to “planned engineering works”.

The FA Cup Semi Final has been scheduled at a time when there are no trains from Manchester or Liverpool into London.

Sorry the FA should think about the fans and re-arrange the game for Old Trafford?

The only reason to host it at Wembley is for financial reasons.

Everyone was up in arms over the European Super League. Yet those at the FA (and Premier League, Sky and BT) clearly do not care about the fans.

Have a good Tuesday.

Keenos

Xhaka booked for persistent fouling – despite committing just ONE foul

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The refereeing agenda against Granit Xhaka is real.

When Jacob Ramsey committed a season challenge, from behind, with no intention of playing a ball, he was only booked. Granit Xhaka would’ve been sent off.

When Tyrone Mings clattered into Bukayo Saka and drew blood, he was only booked. Granit Xhaka would have been sent off.

Ashley Young twice clattered into Bukayo Saka. Both “lazy” attempts to challenge for the ball. He was not booked.

Then Xhaka committed a minor foul deep inside Villa’s half, the Villa player shoved Xhaka and Xhaka responded with a light touch on his opponent’s chest. Xhaka was booked whilst the Villa player jogged off. Neither should have been a booking but once the referee decided to book Xhaka for his push, he should have also booked the Villa player.

Shortly after Xhaka’s yellow, Matty Cash went studs up on Emile Smith Rowe. No booking. In the 2nd half he made no attempt to play the ball and clipped the same player. Still no yellow.

I am still confused as to what Xhaka received his yellow for.

It is becoming clear and obvious that referees are making decisions based on Xhaka’s “reputation” rather than his actions.

If you want to see the agenda against Xhaka in full, you only need to compare Arsenal’s two central midfielders.

Xhaka – 1 yellow every 3 fouls

Partey – 1 yellow every 10 fouls

Two players, playing in a similar position, for the same club. The difference is incredible.

Xhaka has committed just 20 fouls in the Premier League this season. That is not even in the top 50 for most fouls committed by a player.

Referees seem intent on destroying Xhaka’s career. He deserves answers from the PGMOL. But he won’t get any because they do not like to be questioned.

It feels like Xhaka is not allowed to react, not allowed to show any emotion. Any complaint by him, and reaction, leads to him going straight into the book.

Meanwhile we see other players exhibit the same behaviour and referees just ignore them.

The refereeing agenda against Xhaka is real.

Keenos