Arsenal: 3 William Saliba options amid new developments

£27m and two years on from his arrival in north London, William Saliba’s Arsenal future has never been in such doubt. Never considered a saviour by any means, the club have succeeded in making errors in this transfer from the first whistle to possibly the last.

At 18 years old, to spend that amount of money implies you’ve got a special talent on your hands. Arsenal are known to dance around asking prices and try their hand at negotiations, but on this occasion it was stump up the money or watch the defender head elsewhere across Europe.

Such was the excitement around his acquisition that fans allowed themselves to get almost too attached. While he went back on loan to Saint Etienne for the season, him being a boyhood Arsenal fan and even watching on from the away stand at Vicarage Road helped endear him to the public.

Perhaps also that the Gunners had spent heavily on centre-backs during the Emirates era that turned out to be mostly awful made the big-money signing of such a young man become seen as a progressive step towards a cemented Arsenal defender for years to come.

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Arsenal: 3 William Saliba options amid new developments on his future in the summer transfer window with Gunners open to sale

He had been playing in France and the plaudits he’d earned from everyone who watched him contributed to the fandom, and maybe even the discontent around Mikel Arteta’s job meant that any stick that could be found to beat him with was grasped onto with both hands.

There are numerous reasons as to why it’s come to this.

However, none of them absolve Arsenal of failing on countless occasions to make right of this deal. Sure, he wasn’t Arteta’s signing and any manager is in his right to feel one player isn’t up to his standards or nor do they suit his style of play, but as a club that parts with £27m on someone, as the coach it becomes his remit to make sure that investment is made the most of. Someone needs to say: ‘hey, Mikel, let’s try and make this work’.

At least try and extract some value and, who knows, maybe you’ll find the player is a darn sight better than you envisaged. Instead, loans away as well as poor man-management have resulted in two years of wasted Gunners opportunities, to the point where the latest developments are that Saliba is considering his future with Arsenal open to a sale.

Coming from a reliable source, this news has to be taken seriously. Thus, here we are. A summer of uncertainty has left Saliba and Arsenal with three options to take moving forward.

1. Loan William Saliba Out

Among the options mentioned in Saliba leaving Arsenal on loan. Again.

There were rumours not too long ago of Newcastle eyeing a double swoop for Joe Willock and then Saliba on loan, which were rightly laughed off – it goes to show that no matter how ridiculous one may think some speculation may be, it can never be totally disregarded.

Of course, Newcastle aren’t the only ones. Numerous Ligue 1 sides have shown their hand, including Marseille, Lille, Nice, Rennes and Lyon, while Bayer Leverkusen have also expressed interest, as have Southampton.

Plenty of suitors.

It’s been said that any loan move is highly likely to include an obligation to buy, which is frankly the worst possible outcome of all. For Saliba, he wants his future set in stone and while such a deal is in essence a determination of his future, he’d surely want his hands clean of the situation and his new home agreed upon sooner rather than later.

In Arsenal’s case, it does little for them. Unless the deal is a simple loan move then there is no upside, and even then the player who returns from said move will not feel overly welcome and ready to re-integrate, not least if rumoured signing Ben White has had 12 months to fully cement his place.

If Saliba were to go to Newcastle or Southampton for a season-long loan, then there can be some benefit: Arteta’s lack of trust in the 20-year-old stems from his age, as well as his lack of English experience. If he were to continue on the trajectory he currently is then maybe at last the manager may be swayed to hand him the chance he seeks.

Whatever warm feelings he may have had for Arsenal by that point could well have gone cold by then, however.

2. Arsenal Sell William Saliba

Why would Arsenal send Saliba out on loan with an obligation to buy when they can just sell him and recoup the money now? The reasons for that are clear: nobody has any money; not in France; not in Italy; not in Spain.

By loaning him with the arranged purchase it at least buys the club he moves to time to build up some finance, with the hopeful return of supporters to football grounds among other sources of income.

Selling him in this window prevents the unnecessary 12 months of waiting for him to officially leave, while equally watching him likely do well elsewhere and then feel even worse for letting him go. But apart from the overly sentimental side, it would suit Saliba.

If he has doubts over his future and the club opt to loan him with an obligation, from his perspective he’d rather just wipe his hands clean and go. Of course, that isn’t his decision to make as he’s contracted to the club, and Arsenal will do what suits their financial needs best. It is a business, after all.

Whether now or a year later, there is zero chance Arsenal will make their money back on Saliba. None at all. Southampton and Newcastle may be eyeing a loan deal, but the priority interest is in France where no club can, or will, come close to spending £27m on a 20-year-old. It just won’t happen. Not within the current climate.

On the speculative side of things – and this is total shot in the dark stuff – maybe one of the reasons behind the lack of minutes for Saliba and willingness to let him leave stems from the initial deal to sign him. He may have cost £27m, but what if £12m of that was upfront and the remaining £15m would only be paid should be make a certain number of Premier League outings? The structure of the transfer may not be so clean cut.

Yet that is speculative. Who knows. What can be fairly concrete is that no club will pay £27m for a player from a club who had him training with the Under-23’s. Hardly comes across as money well spent from a buyers’ perspective.

3. William Saliba Stays and Fights For His Arsenal Future

Saliba is considering his Arsenal future having felt both unwanted by Arteta and now uncertain of his future with the imminent arrival of Ben White.

Don’t be. Stay and fight for your place. Prove the manager wrong in training.

Arteta’s comments on Saliba after the season concluded were very cryptic, never issuing him with absolute confidence and instead stating ‘you will see in the summer, the possible replacement [for Luiz]’. It’s hardly the most reassuring thing to hear from your manager but at least it was mentioned that Saliba would get his chance in pre-season.

He still can.

Arsenal being willing to sell Saliba or loan him out in some capacity may stem from the Frenchman’s desire to leave. Him getting his chance to impress in pre-season has every possibility of being legitimate as far as the club is concerned, and if the 20-year-old is willing to prove his club and manager wrong then he has the chance to do so.

Furthermore, his case is made stronger with Gabriel’s involvement with Brazil in the Summer Olympics, as the defender will miss the entirety of pre-season as well as the first few weeks of the Premier League campaign.

As someone who is just as comfortable at left centre-back as he is on the right, there is genuine scope for him to wrestle his way in front of Pablo Mari in the pecking order. The Spaniard is hardly Granit Xhaka on the injury front. If he can transfer his Ligue 1 form over to England then why can’t that be a possibility? It can be if he wants to be. If he’s good enough.

Again, there is a lot of reading between the lines in terms of which party wants what and what the discussions are like behind the scenes, as well as how motivated Saliba will be after a defender of a very similar profile is been pursued, but that chance can come if he’s up for it and Arteta stays true to his word.

Is it dead in the water? It sure looks like it, but the final nail is only partially hammered in.