Gazza M wrote:
renewing him will be a challenge, but not because he's some nefarious drama queen, but because literally every club on the planet will be courting him with only 1 year left on his deal. we've left ourselves without much leverage, particularly if we miss top 4 again. and yes, we might have to pay him higher wages than he may be worth at the time, but again, that's just the market effect when you have top talent
Clrnc wrote:
Meatwad wrote:
no interpretation needed, it is the fault of the club.
and funny you think it was his agent that was generating disrespectful heat against arsenal and not supporters on various social media platforms who were wondering why the hell a generational talent is off on loan while we trot out garbage one year and then the next spend 50m at his position AND took his number. and his agent didn't make martin tyler tell carragher he should ask arteta what the hell these 3 loans were about. but yeah all the disrespect is coming from his agent, poor innocent arsenal didn't do anything to deserve this.
and saka was never disrespected by arsenal or treated with any kind of disdain by his manager. in fact he's been pampered. so i don't see the relevance of bringing him up. if all our generational young players were treated like this you would have a point.
QFT. 100% this.
People still spinning it any other way round when its the obvious
I don't think there's much daylight between any of our views in terms of the facts.
Way I see it there's never been that much evidence Saliba has been mistreated by Arsenal, despite being given zero opportunity here prior to his departure, he was happy with the loan move to Marseille and flourished while away.
For me it has always been a bit of a long shot to claim we should've (not could have, should have) made a relatively inexperienced 20 year old a starter at centre half last season, regardless of his talent. In hindsight it looks like it might've worked out but it would've undeniably been a huge risk, one the club's technical leadership would've been slaughtered for if it hadn't worked.
It has suited people to claim there was irreparable damage to Saliba's relationship with Arteta before that, but the evidence isn't overpowering. It has also suited people to claim Saliba's situation would be in crisis this summer but that's not happening either. There's every sign he will start the whole league season in central defence.
So after impressing in France, Saliba's now starting for us in the league at 21. He may well end up being unsettled here and choose to move on in the next year or so, in the face of offers elsewhere, but I don't buy that'd be due to any righteous grievance against Arsenal.
I'm not eager to take the side of players against Arsenal in these situations. I see a talented young player who seems likely to put our club through a contract saga and try to turn himself into the next Ashley Cole, and I view it with distaste. We should make him a great offer to renew, but we can't afford to have all our young stars on Phil Foden £200,000+ a week money. That doesn't mean we should miss out on him over £10k per week …
On whether Saliba's agent is a dickhead, well Saliba shows his face a great deal to the press and Djibril Niang's every move is monitored. I'll grant the degree of attention probably makes it seem like Niang's even more active than he is—cf recent claims Niang met with Chelsea, which I think might've been bogus—but there's a powerful sense Saliba is in the shop window.
And as for calling Saka pampered, that's a bit silly, Saka has seized the chances he's been given and become one of our best players if not our actual best. He's fought every step and got himself into the England national set-up, he's a gem.
