Qwiss! wrote:
Big Willie wrote:
But yes, this is a strange one. I don't know what reason there could have been other than the family problems he was having and possibly not being in the right frame of mind but if that was the case then it's make sense to either send him back on loan in France to be closer with his family, give him time off which means not playing him in U23s, or registering him and giving him the odd game here and there (especially if he is right enough mentally to play U23 games).
Given that Saliba appears to be really keen to play I think they cynically used his families loss as an excuse for freezing him out.
There are many reasons for freezing him out, but unless you are really naive the family loss was initially created by reddit gooners as their way of guessing why he hasn't played. First they used his dad, but they realized later it was 3 years ago. Then they guessed his mum's loss would have been pretty tough but he has played for the next 3 months in France, and doing really well (as good as Fofana).
Saliba is evidently not happy at not playing, and of course at being frozen out completely from the first team. He has mentioned as much on other players social media. He wants to go on loan to another English club to speed up his adaptation, if not anywhere we deem fit to send him to. The kid is absolutely alright and by all accounts very strong mentally (which fits all the scouting reports initially about how special his mental strength was helping him break into his first team early).
I doubt he is so bad he don't even make the bench, although a lot of journos looks like they are briefed to keep this rhetoric of how he is not ready. I am with Jones, guy is a special talent and is being frozen out for non footballing reasons. Whatever it is, it's not family reason that he can't play football.
