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William Saliba’s sole priority on returning to Arsenal this summer was to establish himself with the Gunners, Mikel Arteta has revealed.
Saliba excelled on his debut for Arsenal last week, winning the man of the match award in a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace more than three years after he first joined the club from Saint Etienne for £27million. The intervening years had largely been spent back on loan in his native France, and although the 21-year-old defender was never short of admirers at his parent club, there were those away from the corridors of power who questioned whether the center back might ever don on Arsenal red.
Certainly there were those at Marseille who hoped they might be able to extend an outstanding loan spell that saw Saliba named Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year while winning his first caps for the France national team. OM wanted to bring him back to the Stade Velodrome and Saliba himself did not appear to entirely close the door on a potential return in the future. However, in talks with Arteta the youngster made clear that his priority was finally showing Arsenal what he could do.
“The reality is he was very convinced and determined to come here,” said Arteta. “He had no other choice. He never suggested anything else. From the first conversations that we had with him you could see that he only had one intention, to come here and start to play football matches for Arsenal.”
Arteta was impressed. “The first impression was really positive,” the Arsenal manager said when asked whether he had seen the same composure and confidence that Saliba displayed at Selhurst Park on the Frenchman’s return to preseason training. “His body language, his presence and the confidence that he was acting with, he was very mature.”
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Source : cbssports
