William Saliba has given a brutally honest verdict on his recent form with Marseille amid questions over his future.
The Frenchman is currently on loan at the Stade Velodrome from Arsenal after failing to make a senior appearance for the Gunners since signing for them all the way back in 2019.
During his third loan spell back in France, following time with St. Etienne and Nice previously, Saliba has generally impressed - playing every minute of every Ligue 1 match bar one for Jorge Sampaoli's side despite being just 20-years-of-age.
Now though the French under-21 international has come out to criticise what he views as his sub-par recent displays.
“Since February, I’ve been very average,” he told RMC Sport (translated by Sport Witness ).
“There’s no need to hide. I know that I need to work, I’m a young player, but it’s no excuse. I’m going to give everything to get back to my good level.”
After keeping 10 Ligue 1 clean sheets in the first five months of this season, Marseille have failed to stop their opponents from netting since January, with Saliba playing the full 90 in every one of those six matches.
Despite this though the Frenchman is still one of the most highly rated young defenders in Europe and L'OM are reportedly keen on signing him permanently this summer.
For his part, Saliba has been keen to push any thoughts over his future until the end of this season so that he can focus on regaining his form.
“We’ll sit down at the end of the season,” the Frenchman said when asked about a potential move.
“We’ve had a difficult month of February. We’ve started March badly, but we’ll soon find the taste of victory again and especially the good style of play we had at the start of the season.”
football.london understands that Arsenal would like to hold on to Saliba, with preliminary contract talks likely to commence when he returns from the South of France this summer.
Since the 20-year-old went out on loan to join Marseille, the Gunners have seen Calum Chambers leave the club permanently, with Pablo Mari potentially set to follow when his spell with Udinese comes to an end.
This would open the door to a return for Saliba who could provide competition for Ben White and Gabriel next season. As a mobile player who is comfortbale on the ball and effective defending one-vs-one in transition, it would appear that the Frenchman has all the attributes required to play an important role in Mikel Arteta 's new look defence at the Emirates next season.
On top of that the youngster has spent time playing at right back while at the Stade Velodrome, which could be something Arteta looks fondly upon, given that he has not been afraid to use White in the 'inverted full back role' when Takehiro Tomiasyu has been unavailable this season.
For his part the Spaniard has previously suggested that the plan is to have Saliba come back from his loan and join up with the squad for pre-season come the summer.
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"He will come back for pre-season and he will be with us," the Spaniard said earlier this campaign.
"Hopefully he will come back after playing a number of games and his performance raising and his development progressing in the right way. That's why we made that decision.
"I know that sometimes it's difficult to explain or understand after the money that the club has spent trying to bring him in, to send him on loan."
