Mikel Arteta is reportedly ready to reward William Saliba for his patience by offering the centre-back a new Arsenal deal.
The Gunners splashed out £27million on the Frenchman in the summer of 2019 before immediately loaning him back to Ligue 1 outfit Saint Etienne for the following campaign. Two more loan spells with Nice and Marseille have followed in the years since, and his spell with Marseille has proven to be particularly fruitful.
Saliba scooped the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award as he helped Marseille secure Champions League football next term after the French outfit finished as runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain. Despite the defender reportedly expressing a desire to rejoin Marseille ahead of next season - a stance he has since reconsidered - Arsenal manager Arteta has insisted Saliba will feature in his plans. And now it appears there's further evidence to say the Spaniard is ready to place his faith in the young centre-back.
According to L'Equipe, Arteta is ready to show Saliba how highly regarded he is in north London by offering him a new contract. The French outlet claim the Gunners boss is 'ready to count' on the centre-back next season and will seek to tie him down to a new deal in order to fend off interest from Marseille in particular.
The Ligue 1 side have made no secret of their desire to reacquire Saliba ahead of the next campaign, with Marseille manager Jorge Sampaoli understood to be desperate to sign the four-time French international. While speculation surrounding Saliba being offered a new Gunners deal will serve as a setback to Marseille, the Ligue 1 runners-up haven't abandoned hope of striking another deal this summer.
The French newspaper claim that while Arteta's intention to reward Saliba with a new deal makes matters complicated for Marseille, they will wait to see if Arsenal actually fulfil such claims over the coming months. Sampaoli's side are well aware Saliba has aspirations of making Didier Deschamps' French squad for the Qatar World Cup later in the year and will demand game time in order to secure his selection.
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The French outlet add that should Saliba be left unsatisfied by the lack of minutes on offer at Arsenal, Marseille will be waiting in the wings, ready to exploit the situation - possibly by seeking to strike a second loan agreement. All of this comes after Marseille's hopes of sealing a Saliba return were recently dashed.
In an interview with RMC Sport two weeks' ago, Arteta insisted his decision to send Saliba on loan in order to develop has been justified and he intends to include the Frenchman in his plans next season. The Spaniard said: “He has to come back.
"He has the experience and the necessary environment to be competitive with us. If he had stayed with us this year, with one Premier League game a week and with Ben White and Gabriel, he wouldn’t have had half the game time he had with Marseille, that’s for sure.”
“In terms of his growth and what he could do next year it wouldn’t have been good. William wasn’t with us because he wouldn’t have had the playing time required to gain experience. That’s it, nothing else.”
Despite reportedly telling Marseille he wished to remain with them in the south of France next season, Saliba has since pledged his future to the Gunners. A matter of days ago, the centre-back told TF1, as per Get Football News France : "I belong to Arsenal, and I still have two years there.
"I will be there for pre-season with Arsenal. I have played zero matches with Arsenal and I want to show them what I'm made of and have the chance to play for the supporters and for this big club." Affirming his dedication to the Gunners, he added: "In any case, leaving like that would be a shame."
