The William Saliba situation.
A thread:

William Saliba aged 19, is one of the most sought after young defenders in all of Europe.

He is a product of the ASSE academy in France. And made his debut at ASSE as well.

After his first year at St Etienne, he was subject to huge interest from many top clubs such as Arsenal, Tottenham and Real Madrid.

In the summer of 19/20, William Saliba made a move to Arsenal which cost them 27 million Euros.
Arsenal had put their faith in him and beat competition from some of the top clubs mentioned to get him at the club.

However the ASSE board had a clause in his contact that said, He will spend his first year at Arsenal on loan at ASSE.
Arsenal agreed, as they weren't short of center backs for that season.

William Saliba's second year at ASSE was a good one and a bad one as well. He Fractured his fifth metatarsal which took around a month to heal but after that he hit top form.

At the end of this loan spell, the French Cup final came. This was a chance for Saliba to show Arsenal how well he could do against the top forwards of PSG and also lift a trophy for his hometown club on his last appearance.

But Arsenal refused to allow him to play the final, even after multiple pleas from the ASSE board.

Saliba returned to Arsenal, with people contemplating that he was going to be a starter as he was recalled with such haste.

Saliba then played a couple of U23 games and then was expected to be starting for arsenal.

He did make the squad for the community shield. Against Liverpool which arsenal won on penalties.

After 14 premier league games, with Christmas approaching. Saliba has not made even a single appearance for Arsenal, even in the squad.

It is worth noting that Saliba was left out of the Europa league squad.

So, what is the cause of this situation?
I have 2 theories.

Theory 1:
Mikel Arteta has decided that he is not developed enough for premier league football and still needs another loan and is playing him with the U23 for development purposes.

Theory 2:
I favour this theory way more than the first as this is a bit more sensible.(1/3)

So, it's financial. Saliba has a 5 million debut clause in his contact.
That means, if he makes his competitive debut in his first season at Arsenal they will need to pay ASSE 5 million.
Therefore, Arsenal have found a loophole in the contract and are trying to evade it.(2/3)

This money will most probably be added on to our January budget.(3/3)

What next for Saliba?

Wilo will most probably go on loan to a premier league club or back to ASSE for half a season. This would be helpful for his development.

Also, we need to understand that Saliba is not in the best mental state as of now as he has lost both his parents in just the space of 1 year. And a loan back to his hometown will help him way more than one to the premier league.

Conclusion.

Wilo will come good but it will take time. No one is in the wrong here, this only prepares saliba for what comes next, the Barclays.

Thanks for reading, if you have got here, please don't forget to follow me as it encourages me to do more threads like these. And also RT for more people to understand what happens behind the scenes.

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