BALTIMORE — During Arsenal’s 2-0 preseason victory over Everton in Baltimore on Saturday, one of the players who generated the most cheers was French defender Willaim Saliba. While Saliba has been an Arsenal player since 2019 after moving from Saint-Etienne to North London, he hasn’t appeared above the U-21 level for the club, but that could change this season. Saliba starred on loan with Olympique Marseille last season leading them to a second-place finish in Ligue 1.
The French side wanted to work out a deal for adding Saliba on a permanent transfer but he is set to stay this season, according to CBS Sports soccer insider Fabrizio Romano. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta echoed that after the match.
“William Saliba is in the plans,” Arteta said. “I’m excited to see him. We can’t guarantee first-team football to anybody in this team, but the ones we really see and think are going to take us to the next level, they’re going to be playing a lot of minutes.”
Fellow center back Ben White missed the friendly due to a quad issue, and that allowed Saliba to start next to first-choice defender Gabriel. White is responding well to treatment and will hopefully be back in training soon, but with it being Saliba’s first preseason appearance for Arsenal, it was almost a second debut for him helping contain the Everton attack.
The pro-Arsenal crowd was intrigued by his every move as Saliba has been a bit of a mystery during his time with the club.
“This is probably the first time that they are experiencing this in the states, but that means that they start to get some recognition around the world that has created a voice for what they are doing”, Arteta said about the chants for Saliba.
Saliba’s growth hasn’t gone unnoticed in France with him getting his first international cap against the Ivory Coast in March before also starting two Nations League matches during the June international window….
Source : cbssports
