William Saliba will soon be able to finally kick-start his Arsenal career, three years after joining the club from Saint-Etienne.
It's still somewhat of a surprise that the Frenchman is yet to make a single senior appearance for the Gunners following a £27m move, but last season's loan spell with Marseille and subsequent recognition on the international stage has cemented his place in Mikel Arteta's plans for the upcoming campaign.
"He has to come back," the Arsenal manager said of Saliba when speaking to RMC Sport back in May. "He has the experience and has been in the necessary environment in order to be competitive with us. If he had stayed with us this year, where we had one Premier League game every week, with Ben White and Gabriel, he wouldn’t have had half the playing time he had with Marseille, that’s for sure.
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"For his growth and what he can do next season, that wouldn’t have been good. William wasn't with us because he wouldn't have had the playing time to gain experience. That's it, there’s nothing else."
Despite Arteta's declaration, rumours of a permanent move to the Ligue 1 outfit continued to persist. Therefore it was music to the ears of many Arsenal supporters when Saliba moved to end any uncertainty regarding his future once and for all by stating his intention to return.
"I belong to Arsenal. I still have two years left. I will be back with Arsenal," he revealed in an interview with French publication Telefoot last month. "I have played zero matches, and I still want to show them my true face and have the chance to play for these fans and this great club."
From next week, Saliba can get closer to his goal of playing for Arsenal in a competitive fixture as he is expected to be amongst the next batch of senior players reporting for pre-season duty ahead of the USA tour, which includes games against Everton, Orlando City and Chelsea.
Along with the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Granit Xhaka, the Frenchman was given extra time off after representing his national team in the UEFA Nations League during the June international break, but is now primed for a return to London Colney.
However, amid the 21-year-old's imminent re-integration into the Arsenal squad, there's still one issue to settle - and that is what shirt number will he wear next season? Of course, Saliba was handed the no.4 shirt - thanks to the generosity of Mohamed Elneny - ahead of the 2020/21 campaign, but it has since been taken over by Benjamin White.
As a result, Saliba is one of two senior players on the club's official website yet to be allocated a shirt number ahead of the new season. Now his training gear may offer a clue as to what squad number he will be given, although it may not be definitive given Charlie Patino has trained in no.35 recently, but wore no.69 in Friday's pre-season friendly win over FC Nurnberg.
Now, there have been several theories that Saliba will get the no.2 shirt - which he wore last season for Marseille - after he posted an image on Instagram of his new Nike trainers which had 'WS2' imprinted on it, suggesting that he has warmed to this particular shirt number.
Although, the incumbent no.2 at Arsenal is Hector Bellerin and he's also back at the club following a season-long loan spell of his own. With that said, as the right-back is seemingly not in Arteta's long-term plans, it could be a case that Saliba's shirt number will be confirmed if or when the Spaniard departs.
Failing that, the defender may have to choose between the current available shirt numbers at Arsenal (up to 30) which are: 12 - worn by Thierry Henry in his second spell at the club - 28 or 29 which was previously worn by Saliba's compatriot at teammate at Marseille last season in Matteo Guendouzi.
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