Saint-Etienne’s former academy director Philippe Guillemet has claimed that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and William Saliba previously had a few issues that have been ironed out in recent times.
Saliba joined the north Londoners back in the summer of 2019 before being immediately sent back out on loan to Saint-Etienne for one year. The young centre-back failed to make a single first-team appearance in the first half of the 2020/21 season before eventually being shipped out to Nice for the remainder of the campaign.
The Frenchman again was sent out on loan for the 2021/22 season, joining Marseille on a temporary basis, a decision that raised some eyebrows as some fans and pundits alike questioned whether or not he had a future at the Emirates Stadium. But that turned out to be the making of Saliba, who was named Ligue 1 young player of the year following a stellar campaign, returning to Arsenal and immediately forming an elite centre-back partnership alongside Gabriel Magalhaes.
