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Transfer Rumours The Curious Case of William Saliba

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by BrunelGunner, Jul 2, 2021.

  1. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    The entire situation is insane to me. We spent £27m on a young centre back and gave him a 5 year deal in 2019. This will be his 3rd successive year on loan without having played a single minute for us.

    I just don't get it. And we're not even loaning him to a Premier League side, it's back to ****ing France <doh>.

    By the time he's finished his loan at Marseille, he'll have two years left on his deal. This means both he and the club will have a big decision to make.

    Now, although Ornstein claims that he's part of our 'long-term thinking', there is absolutely no evidence from the club to suggest that is the case. And frankly, after being treated like this, I don't know why he would stay.

    The fact that Mustafi and Kolasinac, both of whom clearly had no future at this club, were ahead of him in the pecking order last season shows that he's either not rated by Arteta or Saliba isn't as good as we think he is. The latter is what I find hard to believe.

    He joined Nice mid way through the campaign, yet still made it into the Ligue 1 team of the season shortlist. So he's clearly got talent.

    The question is, what do we do? Is a loan back to France really that beneficial? Or should we be looking to sell him permanently if he's not in our plans (which he doesn't look to be)?

    Regardless of what happens, this whole transfer has been an absolute catastrophe.
     
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  2. white_gunner

    white_gunner Well-Known Member

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    Arteta doesn’t rate him, end of.

    However good he is, whatever he goes on to be is irrelevant; it just seems Arteta is not interested.

    it is a shame, if we had a different manager I think he would get a chance.
     
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  3. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    It doesn't make sense though. We invested a lot of money into him, and we're getting worse every year, so we can't just flush that type of cash down the drain. This was a player that was one of the most highly sought after youngsters when we signed him. The whole point of a coach is to work with what they have and improve existing players, as opposed to ostracising them and not give them a chance to play.

    I'm starting to think either there's personal friction between player and manager, or there was something dodgy in this deal that Raul Sanllehi was involved in regarding the agent side of things.

    What concerns me more is the fact that the club are willing to support this decision and no-one appears to be opposing it.
     
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  4. gooner4ever

    gooner4ever once a Gooner always a Gooner
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    You may have something about the friction between player and Arteta as clearly Arteta doesn’t stand for any nonsense - see how he has dealt with guendozi
     
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  5. 1950canary

    1950canary Well-Known Member

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    I live in Nice and saw most, if not all, the games on local TV. Saliba seemed way above average especially bearing in mind his age. He is a tall lad very good in the air at both ends of the pitch, quick on the turn and very good defensively with good distribution skills. Nice were very hopeful of getting him back on loan but, according to local media reports, Guendouzi is his best mate and that is why he is going to Marseille. French media are still touting the line that he is in France to further his experience, Arsenal still make him part of their long term plans and he will return to London at the end of the season
     
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  6. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    Saliba, Magalhaes, White. £100m those three will have cost us, assuming we get White for £50m. Couldn't we have just bought one or two of them and put the rest out towards someone else like Auour? Very odd.
     
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  7. gooner4ever

    gooner4ever once a Gooner always a Gooner
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    I don’t get the Saliba situation and can only assume there is a personality clash and there is only one winner if that’s the case
     
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  8. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    I rate him soo highly as well.

    Honestly think this will be a bigger loss than Gnabry if we let him go.

    I think he has Van Dijk/Varane potential.

    Obvioulsy if he is'nt given games he wont reach that potential so for his own development he is better off at Marseille.
     
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