Arsenal: Mikel Arteta addresses future of William Saliba & Mavropanos

Arsenal currently have seven players out on loan across Europe, although none have garnered as much attention as William Saliba over at OGC Nice in  Ligue 1.

His career thus far in north London has been a source of huge frustration. From a lack of senior minutes to being omitted entirely from the Europa League squad, while also dealing with the devastating loss of family, the defender’s £27m move in 2019 has been anything but ideal.

A loan departure was essential to getting him back into the groove of regular senior football, and his time in France has been another glowing indicator of the roaring talent he is.

One standout statistic is that William Saliba is yet to be dribbled past by an opponent in any of the ten matches he’s played for the club since joining. While, beyond that, he remains the commanding, confident and assertive centre-back he was with Saint-Etienne.

Not the only defender due back at London Colney in the summer, Konstantinos Mavropanos has also been earning rave reviews for his performances in the Bundesliga for Stuttgart. A troublesome area of the pitch for Arsenal over a number of years finally has quality in depth, even if the two loanees are young and untested in the Premier League.

Arteta provides update on futures of Arsenal duo William Saliba and Konstantinos Mavropanos

"“We’re having meetings very often to assess what they’re doing and obviously we’re getting all the information and watching their games because I want to keep a very close eye on what they’re doing,” Arteta told the official Arsenal website.“It’s good news that they are playing and it’s good news that they have the possibility to have a lot of minutes because that’s going to give us a much better perception of where they are and how we can use them.”"

As football.london add, Arsenal are thoroughly impressed with Mavropanos’ development and Arteta will keep a close eye on him once he returns to England. Whatever the outcome, Arsenal will either have an exciting central defender to reintegrate into the squad or a player who could garner a handsome fee to spend on other areas.

As for Saliba, his ceiling is out of sight and his talent immense. There are creases to iron out, sure, but even the thought of him not being a regular member of the team is unfathomable.