“I’ve been very average” – Arsenal player honest about his form, says age is ‘no excuse’

Despite impressing massively throughout most of the season on loan at Marseille from Arsenal, William Saliba feels he can do better, a lot better.

That’s what the player said ahead of the Ligue 1 side’s clash in the Conference League against Basel this week, when asked about both his side’s form and his own.

The Gunners loanee said, relayed by RMC Sport: “Since February, I’ve been very average. There’s no need to hide. I know that I need to work, I’m a young player, but it’s no excuse. I’m going to give everything to get back to my good level.”

Still only 21, no one was really expecting the defender to be consistent throughout every game of the season, especially when you look at how Jorge Sampaoli wants his side to play, but Saliba has been a near constant since the start of the campaign.

Starting and finishing 26 out of 27 league games this season, the centre-back has received all the minutes he and Arsenal were hoping for this season, and he didn’t dismiss the chance of him staying a bit longer in the south of France.

Explaining he was ‘very happy’ in Marseille, he added: “We’ll sit down at the end of the season. We’ve had a difficult month of February. We’ve started March badly, but we’ll soon find the taste of victory again and especially the good style of play we had at the start of the season.”

Saliba, who was signed by Arsenal from AS Saint-Etienne in 2019 for £27m, has two years left on his contract at the Emirates.