mikel already publicly admitted he was surprised by how good saliba was, or at least how good he had become. based of everything ive seen since arteta joined, i dont think there was much of a specific plan for saliba. he was just seen as a young player out on loan, another spare part from the previous regime. but then it became apparent he was an undeniable main character, to the extent that it caused our marquee 50m CB to be moved to RB
