Neil Warnock has given his verdict on Mikel Arteta’s decision to loan out William Saliba and other players from Arsenal this season when considering the current squad shortages. The Gunners have fallen victims to injuries in recent weeks that has hampered the squad.
Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey have all suffered injuries that have weakened Arteta’s starting XI options and exposed the potential lack of squad depth in the team. This has also questioned the Gunners ‘credentials on whether they are capable of making the top four.
Arsenal have sent nine players away on loan this season until the end of the campaign. Warnock claims that Arteta may live to regret this decision, with Saliba in particular doing so well.
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Warnock spoke about the risks of the Arsenal boss trimming his squad on Gillette Soccer Saturday. “I think at the time Mikel Arteta would have thought it was good to get rid of a lot of players due to the size of the squad when they didn’t have many injuries. But it has come to bite him," he said.
“Now he would’ve wished that he kept two or three of them, even if he didn’t like them or he knew he was going to get rid of them, he could’ve done it at the end of the season instead and given the team a better chance, so it is on his own back.”
One of the players currently away on loan that Arsenal fans would have liked to have seen is Saliba. He is currently spending the season away at Marseille.
Arsenal only have three centre-backs in the squad currently in Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White. Arteta already has a lack of defensive options after injuries suffered to Tomiyasu and Tierney, which has made fans question his decision to loan out Saliba, as well as Pablo Mari to Udinese, instead of maintaining the squad depth.
Speaking about his loan move away from Arsenal in a recent interview with French outlet L’equipe, Saliba said: "They are often in contact with my agent.
"They send me messages. They watch my matches. They tell me to continue like this. I haven't played much with the Gunners. The coach [Mikel Arteta] made his choices, that's life. I left on loan, I played matches and, thanks to my performances, I became a [senior France] international.
"I'm sure I can't just be on the bench at Arsenal and be happy. I want to play as a starter. Afterwards, if I come into the rotation as a substitute, it's not like staying with the Under-23s and never being in the squad."
