An insight into Arsenal’s plans for William Saliba has been provided on Tuesday.
Saliba, despite signing for the club in 2019, is yet to make a competitive appearance for Arsenal.
Instead, the stopper has been loaned out on three occasions and is currently plying his trade in France with Marseille.
Despite his tender years and lack of experience, Saliba is a key cog in Marseille’s backline, who boast one of the best defences in Ligue 1 this term.
How Arsenal may use Saliba
But with Arsenal currently having Ben White and Gabriel as their main centre-back pairing, there does not look to be too much room for Saliba.
This theory is corroborated by football.london, who write on Tuesday that if Saliba is back in north London next season, there remains a possibility that the Frenchman could be used as a rotational option if the Gunners qualify for Europe.
As Arsenal are currently 4th in the Premier League and have a decent lead over the sides above them, some form of European football returning to the Emirates for 2022/23 does seem very likely.
But will Saliba actually want to spend the entirety of next season being used as a rotation option? He has already proven in the current campaign that he can perform on a consistent basis for a top side, so why would he want to go back to hardly playing next season?
It looks set to be an issue Mikel Arteta will have to handle delicately or risk alienating a clearly promising young talent.
