Arsenal defender William Saliba is reportedly considering an extended stay with Marseille following his impressive season on loan.
The 20-year-old is currently in the midst of a temporary switch at the Ligue 1 club, gaining valuable first-team minutes in pursuit of a starting place at the Emirates Stadium.
The Frenchman is yet to make a first-team appearance for the club, despite the £27million fee spent to land him from St. Etienne.
There is lots of promise with the youngster, who could go on to become a mainstay in North London, though there are doubts over his future at the club.
According to La Provence, the defender is keen on making his loan switch to Marseille permanent, but only if the side qualifies for the Champions League.
Only the top three teams in Ligue 1 can qualify for the competition, though the third-placed team have to go through qualification while the other two go straight to the group stages.
Saliba’s impressive form could mean that he is a huge loss for Arsenal if he is to leave the club permanently and that was on full display against RC Lens at the weekend.
As midfielder Seko Fofana ran through on goal for Lens, there were no defenders seemingly able to catch up with him.
That wasn’t the case for Saliba though, who accelerated to catch up and make a challenge in the box, stopping an almost certain goal. The incident echoed back to earlier this season where the Arsenal starlet tracked back to deny Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe what looked like a certain goal.
Marseille went on to win the game 2-0, a much more comfortable score line than if the Arsenal defender wasn’t able to stop the opposition.
It remains to be seen whether there will be a future in north London for Saliba upon his return, though he could make a fine addition to a young centre-back pairing of Ben White and Gabriel.
He will hope to keep having an impact for his adoptive employers as they take on Montpellier in the Coupe de France at the weekend.
