William Saliba made his first appearance for Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium against Sevilla on Saturday. And he didn't disappoint.
The centre-back joined the Gunners from St. Etienne in 2019 for a fee in the region of £27million, but was loaned straight back to the French club. The 21-year-old then failed to make a matchday squad for any of Arsenal's Premier League games in the first half of the 2020/21 season, and was left out of the club's Europa League squad all together before being sent out on loan to Nice for the remainder of the campaign.
With the arrival of Ben White last summer it was then decided that Saliba's development would be best served by another loan, leading him to spend another season back in France, this time with Marseille, where his performances saw him named as Ligue 1's young player of the year.
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Doubts had lingered over his Arsenal future ahead of this season, but he has appeared in a handful of pre-season friendlies with Mikel Arteta indicating that he is part of his plans. "He needs to come back," Arteta said in May. "He has the experience and environment necessary to be competitive for us."
The defender has impressed for Arsenal throughout pre-season, and made his home debut for the Gunners against Sevilla on Saturday. It didn't take long for crowds to be wowed by the young centre-back, either.
Under pressure in his own half following a pass by Ben White, Saliba showed great composure to turn into space and play himself out of trouble. After finding a neat pass to Thomas Partey, the crowd applauded the defender's skill and rightly so.
The cheers didn't end there however as Arsenal raced into a 4-0 lead at half-time following two goals each for Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka. Things are certainly looking bright for Saliba and Arsenal.
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