Purchased by Arsenal during the Unai Emery era, William Saliba has yet to make his professional debut for the Gunners.
Sent back to Saint-Etienne immediately after being bought for a year long loan, the player then returned to find Mikel Arteta at the helm, who didn’t feel he was ready to start.
That meant six months of stagnation, which led to another temporary deal to OGC Nice, where he demonstrated his qualities once again.
However, that still wasn’t enough to convince Arteta, so, for the third time, a loan was put together, back to France, where Marseille have welcomed him with open arms.
Presented to the press on Thursday, the player was sat next to the club’s president, Pablo Longoria, who explained why he targeted Saliba and how the deal came about.
He said, relayed by Le10 Sport: “Every transfer has a story. For William, it went really well, we took a lot of pleasure and had very good conversations. He’s a player with extraordinary potential, one of the best modern centre-backs in Europe.
“He has the capacity to win duels. He has everything to succeed at the highest level. He has attributes for the way the team player. I’d like to thank him, because we kept our word. Having those types of conversation with a player made me really happy”.
The loan taking Saliba to Marseille doesn’t include an option to buy, so the young defender will, in all likelihood, return to the Emirates come the summer.
