It is quite uncommon for a player this young to divide so many opinions, in the case of William Saliba his story is filled with great expectation, but also many blanks and gaps. This has led the fanbase to attempt to shape the narrative around whichever way their opinions may lean. However, we cant talk about Saliba without all asking the same question, Why isn't he playing for Arsenal? Well only Arteta and Edu can give a clear and definitive answer to that and they like to keep these things in-house, so here are some thoughts around what has gone on, what has gone wrong and what is going right.
Now what you're likely to see
every time Saliba plays for OGC Nice are clips all over social media of every
nice turn he does on the ball, every good pass he plays or saving tackle he
makes. That's great, its good to see the positive things he's doing, but also
important to remember its often out of context, lacking any true portrayal of
Saliba's development and any insight into what he and Arsenal will be looking
to improve within his game.
The young Frenchman has so many
great qualities, so composed and brave on the ball, he's physical and
technically sound, moving gracefully past opposing forwards to bring the ball
out of the defensive phase with such authority and intent. At this current time
these strengths can be just as much his weaknesses and this is all down to his
assessment of risk and decision making. Something Arsenal are hoping the
inclusion of a transition season with Nice will help improve. Watching Saliba
in French football and Arsenal U23 games it was clear there was a pattern in
his game that his passing and movement with the ball could be incredibly
impressive but in each game there would be a moment where he would misjudge
that risk and place his team in trouble, this has led directly to conceding a
clear chance or even a sending off. You can put this is all down to youth and
experience, or the lack of. This may have been key in Arteta's thinking when he
mentioned the importance of Saliba having that transition season, the one they
had hoped and planned he would have with St Étienne before injury and a global
pandemic intervened. Now if the 19-year-old gets the experience with Nice and
is reflective enough in his self-analysis, he can mature in his anticipation of
risk and decision making, the knowledge of ‘when to and when not to’ will
become second nature.
This is some justification for why Saliba is not currently playing his football in North London, it was a decision that was made with his development at the fore-front of the thinking. One thing Arsenal do need to take responsibility for is why this happened in January 2021 and not September 2020. It was certainly the intention from the Gunners hierarchy to make that deal happen at the start of the season, however this did not materialise. It's no secret the club’s relationship with Sr Étienne wasn't great and the negotiations were far from smooth, accusations have gone back and forth about which side of the fence failed to file the correct paperwork, but the deal fell through, Arsenal had no plan B for Saliba and the Frenchman simply had to stay. This cost Saliba some important months and confused fans about how in-favour he really was in North London. Every game fans wondered if they would see a player they were clearly very excited about and this certainly caused frustration amongst the fanbase.
There has been a lot of
misinformation and confusion about the defender’s last 12 months at Arsenal,
there has been much discussion about the time he spent without football last
season due to injury, COVID-19 interrupting French Football, there was also talk
of a close family bereavement. It's unknown how much these things have impacted
on Saliba's development, but it is fair to say they would have been taken into consideration
by Arteta and his staff and this may have led them to protect the player from
the limelight during his time at the club. The expectation on the French youth
international, from fans has been huge and it may have been an attempt to
manage some of that expectation in order to relieve some of the pressure around
him. Many can argue those theories, but we must remember that this is a player
Arteta saw every day in training for a good period of time.
Whilst some of those
explanations maybe difficult to substantiate, one thing that does have clarity is
that Arsenal are invested in the William Saliba’s development. During the first
half of his season with St Etienne, Arsenal had him report to Colney on a few
occasions to conduct tests around his fitness and negotiate his training plan,
they also wanted to recall him in the January of that season. The objective of
this loan at Nice is to gain the experience needed to mature his decision
making and strengthen his progress so he can return to North London and fulfil
the explosive potential we can all see, and I have every confidence he'll do
exactly just that.
