Loan Watch 21/22: Page 12 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Loan Watch 21/22

Ricky1985

He's so so young though. Upemecano has 3 years on him and he got his move to a big club this summer; Konate has two years on him and he's just being eased in after the move to Liverpool; De Ligt moved to Juventus at the age Saliba will be at the end of the season, and my view from afar is that he has really struggled. Those are three big defensive talents around at big clubs, playing with big expectations and pressure and they each have years on him.

I reckon Saliba will be ready to rumble next season.

Ray

So next season, who out of White / Gabriel / Saliba miss out then in a 4 man defence?

QuincyAbeyie

To be fair we’re closer to Leipzig where Upamecano played before he went to Bayern.

Meatwad

yeah this idea that we're the equivalent of juve and bayern in this development scenario is funny. for the past 5 years we've been trying to get to the level of ajax and leipzig.

jones

As it stands I'd even say Marseille are more likely to get CL than we are.

Ricky1985

We still have the big club scrutiny and pressure though. It has made many a gibbering wreck in the past 10 years.

Clrnc

jones wrote:
As it stands I'd even say Marseille are more likely to get CL than we are.

Can't see us even holding PSG currently, Marseille was comfortable and should have won even. On paper their team ain't that inferior to us.

Jed

That senior France national team call-up must be around the corner for Big Bill.

JazzG

jones wrote:
Him getting 40+ games at this stage is very good but not ideal. Ideal would be if he could continue his development next season at Arsenal under the same manager

I think ideal is letting him develop and we get a new manager next season and integrate him in...

Ricky1985

[Twitter]

I saw Arteta's quote re Saliba and wanted to see what he said on video. And I find this odd.

I have no real problem with the kid going out on loan this season if the idea is to maximise his minutes, even if I wouldn't have made that decision myself, but Arteta can't even bring himself to look pleased or praise Saliba's performance against PSG when he's asked about it. To me, he looks irritated and annoyed by the questioning. Surely Arteta should be buzzing about it and licking his lips about the possibility of having him back next season? Instead he ends by saying "we'll sit down in the summer and make a decision about the next step".

No, Mikel, you'll bring him back into the squad and you'll play him over the likes of Chambers, Mari and Holding (Holdinho is a half decent player though btw!)

I will be severely unimpressed if we lose the kid because of some clash between him and Arteta. I really, really hope that's not the case. Anyone with eyes can see the huge potential he has.

goon

I didn’t see the video but I was concerned by the summer thing too.

jones

It's definitely him stamping his authority or trying to. Normally the situation with players out on loan even when they're blatantly not in your plans you talk them up acting like they're an important cog to raise their profile and keep them relevant, here Arteta's obviously prepping us for Salibas departure. Makes perfect sense when you look at our handling of the overall situation and also the transfers we've made since.

Clrnc

I thought the biggest clue was that at no point did we even bother to assess him the past 2 seasons to even give him a chance, then banished him completely from all squads. Everything else he said about him all the time is just random PR and patronising.

Clrnc

Not to mention he has actually performed at a higher level than most of our CB options over the entire period.

Klaus

Clrnc wrote:
I thought the biggest clue was that at no point did we even bother to assess him the past 2 seasons to even give him a chance, then banished him completely from all squads.

And we also signed a young, expensive CB to play instead of him two summers in a row. And gave the second one Saliba's shirt number before he had even been sent out on loan. I'm sure he'll have gotten the message by now, and the message is that he's not wanted here.

Ricky1985

jones wrote:
It's definitely him stamping his authority or trying to. Normally the situation with players out on loan even when they're blatantly not in your plans you talk them up acting like they're an important cog to raise their profile and keep them relevant, here Arteta's obviously prepping us for Salibas departure. Makes perfect sense when you look at our handling of the overall situation and also the transfers we've made since.

It appears that way to me if I judge based on what he says there. I try to imagine Klopp or Guardiola in the same siituation, and I'm sure they'd be purring. But then Arteta is no stranger to a hyperbolic superlative ordinarily either. Something is going on, and if it costs us Saliba I will be fuming.

Coombs

Not sure what he said that justifies these chicken little readings.

Burnwinter

Who cares anyway?

Saliba is under contract for ages still and is playing at Marseille.

If he plays well, and we are progressing, contributing at Arsenal would make sense for all parties in a way it apparently didn't when he landed. There is no pragmatic reason it won't happen.

If Saliba is asked and is reluctant to come and play for Arteta and Arsenal, we can enforce his contract or we can acknowledge that he's an embittered and emotional young man. If Arteta is reluctant to invite him to return, it might just be one more among many deficiencies and we might have to accept that or wait for him to be gone.

If we outlaid too much on Ben White and Saliba is good enough, we can sell one of them for tens of millions and be content. Ultimately the two players are assets well secured by their contracts at this point. The level of angst is overcooked.

QuincyAbeyie

Don't think I see your point. The "if Arteta is reluctant to bring him back we might have to wait for him to be gone" is exactly the part people are worried about because we don't know if Saliba is still an Arsenal player by then.

jones

Burnwinter wrote:
Who cares anyway?

Saliba is under contract for ages still and is playing at Marseille.

If he plays well, and we are progressing, contributing at Arsenal would make sense for all parties in a way it apparently didn't when he landed. There is no pragmatic reason it won't happen.

There was no pragmatic reason it didn't happen yet either. There's a reason we paid 30m for him when he had just turned legal age - he's a massive talent and played in a way that he would have been able to contribute immediately. As Quincy says people are worried about him being flogged despite his talent and contract - doesn't matter how many years he still has left if the coach doesn't rate him, even Ricky who's not exactly been Arteta out is getting worried about the demonstratively blasé response to his performances

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