WILLIAM SALIBA is set to leave Arsenal to re-join Saint Etienne in January.
The 19-year-old spent last season at the French club after signing a deal to join the Gunners in the summer of 2019.
William Saliba’s Arsenal misery looks like it could be coming to an endCredit: Rex Features
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But the transfer move has not worked out, and his Emirates misery appears to be coming to an end.
That is according to But Football Club, who state a switch back to his old team is on the cards.
And they state the defender has not even been allowed to train with the Arsenal first-team this term under Mikel Arteta.
The French news outlet claims that a deal for the £40,000-a-week starlet almost happened in the summer.
But after leaving negotiations too late, the transfer broke down.
Now it seems the deal is back on, despite Saliba only making 17 appearances during an injury-plagued campaign last year.
Arsenal refused to allow the centre-half to play in the French Cup Final against Paris Saint-Germain following the season’s restart after the Covid-19 suspension.
However, Arteta left him out of his Europa League squad.
And that has left his only match action coming in Arsenal’s development side this season.
Saliba is said to be unhappy with the situation and wants out on loan in January.
In November, Arteta said: “I’m fed up with the situation because, as you could see, we tried to find a way in the last few days to give him some football.
“I explained that he needed that transition year when we decided to buy him and send him on loan to Saint-Etienne.
“For many reasons, that didn’t happen – he didn’t have that transition year and he needs to go through that.
“At the moment, with the amount of central defenders we have in the team, we had to leave him out of the squad, which is painful.
“Now we have some injuries and we could have used him but this is part of the profession.”
Manchester clubs have the worst net spend in the past decade by some distance
Arsenal boss Arteta admits he is ‘fed up’ with William Saliba situation
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
