Arsenal have been warned not to expect too much from young defender Willian Saliba when he arrives at the club this summer.
The Gunners secured the highly-rated French defender last summer in a €30m deal, beating stiff competition for his signature.
They elected to leave him at Saint-Etienne this season, though, so he would benefit from another season in Ligue 1 before making the move to the Emirates.
That decision has been widely questioned among Arsenal fans, who are convinced that the 18-year-old would be a superior option to those the club currently have available.
Indeed, there is plenty of hope that Saliba’s arrival this summer can go a long way to easing Arsenal’s defensive woes and provide manager Mikel Arteta with the centre half his team desperately need.
Canal + journalist Pierre Ménès has a warning in that regard, though, saying Saliba has plenty of work left to do before he is the top centre back many are predicting he will become.
“He is an interesting player, who has the potential to become a big player,” Sport.fr report him saying.
“Maybe he still lacks a little bit of experience. We saw that with the penalty he gave away in the semi-final of the French Cup.
“Maybe he lacks a bit of speed, but he’s very young. He can obviously improve a lot.
“In any case, he has good positioning, a good reading of the game and, obviously, a physique that helps him a lot.”
