Arsenal: William Saliba walking into starting XI kind of the point

Arsenal’s defensive is eagerly awaiting the arrival of William Saliba, who has been tipped to walk right into the starting XI. Yeah, that’s kind of the point.

There was a lot of excitement around William Saliba when Arsenal announced that they had spent a whole £27m to procure a teenage defender who would then be loaned back to France to serve out one more year before moving to the Emirates. That’s a lot of money for a lot of nothing immediate.

Now, with the season winding down and coming to what may even be a premature end, the time of William Saliba is nearing, and everyone wants to know what we might expect from the young Frenchman.

According to former Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre, he expects Saliba to walk right into the starting XI of the Gunners. But that isn’t such a bold prediction at all. That should be exactly what we’re expecting.

Here’s what Sylvestre had to say:

"Defensively he’s strong so he’ll be looking to impress in pre-season. He’ll need to adapt in that period, but he has enough time to learn from the Arsenal staff and players. He’s still very young but has great experience from his time in Ligue 1. He’ll continue to learn from the current centre-backs, but he’ll have a big part to play from day one.More from Pain in the Arsenal3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victoryArsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison ParkMikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win"

Sylvestre has been tremendous at Saint-Etienne, and as I always say, you can only make the most of what’s given you. It’s reminiscent of when Calum Chambers was anchoring Middlesbrough and/or Fulham. Both sides were doomed, but in individuality Chambers was quite good.

Lo and behold, when you take that individual form and apply it to a bigger picture, better club, it actually translates pretty well.

Coming over from a struggling Ligue 1 side is a bit different, but all in all, the individual performances are there, the consistency is there, and we have to believe that his transition into the first team at Arsenal will go as smoothly as Chambers’ own transition went.

Another huge factor on Saliba’s side is the fact that this defense is in tumult. It’s incredibly unclear just who is going to be here moving forward, and that opens the door for Saliba to be a mainstay right from the start. When you take a player with that much talent and give him an open pathway to regularity, he’s going to take it.

Between David Luiz, Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi, no one is guaranteed to be back at the club at the start of next season. There’s still too much on the line to know for sure, but one thing we do know for sure is that the stops were pulled out for Saliba. He’s going to make an impact from day one indeed.