William Saliba appears to have gotten over his "issues" with Mikel Arteta as he closes in on a new deal at the Emirates Stadium.
The defender sees his contract in north London expire next summer, something that French giants Paris Saint-Germain were keen to take advantage of with a swoop for his signature. However, a move back home now appears off the cards with claims Saliba is close to penning a new deal with Arsenal.
Meanwhile, it appears that he has also patched things up with current boss Arteta. Ex-director of Saint Etienne's academy, where Saliba started his career, Philippe Guillemet, has claimed that the relationship between the two was not always so serene.
Speaking to The Athletic, he said: "He [Saliba] loved Marseille. It [his loan spell] was a fantastic year.
“Speaking to people close to him, he had doubts about Arsenal because there were some issues between him and the coach. Now he is happy in London.”
Since returning to north London, Saliba has established himself as a key player under Arteta. The defender made 33 appearances in all competitions for the Gunners this term, scoring three goals.
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His campaign was cruelly curtailed in March as he suffered a back injury. He did not recover in time for the Premier League title run-in as the Gunners failed to keep Manchester City at bay.
Arteta has previously alluded to a slight misunderstanding between him and Saliba in the past but was full of praise for the 22-year-old and his performances this season. “The first question was how the player is going to reintegrate into our dynamic after being out for so long,” said Arteta.
“Is there some frustration there, something personal between, for example, between me and the player because he could not understand that?
“Or his environment, his expectations coming back or the amount that we paid for him, his age, is it the same to do it in France as it is to do it in this League for Arsenal because you don’t have 21-year-old defenders at the top level in England?
“There were a lot of question marks and he went with all of them, ticking them off and giving us every reason to be confident that he was a great player for us.”
Injuries have seen Saliba miss out on a place in the France squad for the upcoming Nations League matches against Gibraltar and Greece. There is hope that he will recover in time for the opening weeks of the 2023/24 Premier League season as Arsenal hope to go one better next term.
