Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted that he is fed up with William Saliba’s lack of first team action.
The 19-year-old was expected to be a first-team member this season but he is yet to play for Arsenal. It seems that Saliba could be loaned in January.
The former St Etienne defender is highly rated in France and he has a big future ahead of him. He needs to play regular first in football in order to continue his development and fulfil his potential.
Arsenal paid £27 million for him and it is quite surprising that they have not given him a chance to showcase his talent at the London club so far.
Arsenal have plenty of options at the back right now and it is hard for Arteta to accommodate the youngster.
It will be interesting to see if the defender agrees to go out on loan when the transfer window reopens in January.
A year on the bench could seriously affect his development as a player and he needs to consider a temporary exit. It remains to be seen whether he can force his way into Arteta’s plans before January.
“I am fed up with the situation because as you could see we tried to find a way in the last few days to give him some football,” the Arsenal manager said.
“I explained that he needed that transition year when we decided to buy him and send him on loan to Saint-Etienne, for many reasons that didn’t happen, he didn’t have that transition year and he needs to go through that.
“At the moment, with the amount of central defenders that we have in the team we had to leave him out of the squad which is painful because we have some injuries and we could have used him, but it’s part of this profession.”
Regarding a January move, Arteta added: “I don’t know, we certainly tried in the last few days of the transfer window to find the right club and we had it, but at the end of the day we could not make it.
“We will review his situation in the next few weeks, sit down with him as well and see what is the best thing to do. But it will depend on him and other players’ situation as well.”
