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Football London
Football London
Sport
Aaron Catterson-Reid

Mikel Arteta reveals how close William Saliba was to leaving Arsenal this summer

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed that William Saliba never wanted to leave the club this summer.

Saliba signed for the north Londoners three years ago, joining from Saint Etienne for a reported £30 million. However, he then spent three loan spells back in France, leading some to speculate that his long-term future could in fact be away from the Emirates Stadium.

The young defender enjoyed an excellent temporary spell with Marseille last season, leading to some reports linking him with a permanent switch to the Ligue 1 giants. Still, the 21-year-old ended up staying at the Emirates Stadium and earned the man of the match award during his Arsenal debut last week as the Gunners defeated Crystal Palace 2-0 in their Premier League opener.

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