Interview

Arteta on... the latest on William Saliba

Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta

There was much talk on social media about why William Saliba wasn't in our squad on Thursday night at Liverpool.

So why was the French defender not included?

 

"He had a year last year where Arsenal loaned him to St Etienne and that was a transition year for him," Mikel Arteta said.

 

"For many reasons, that wasn't the transition year that he needed because he had a lot of injuries, some personal injuries and also with COVID and the French league getting cancelled, he didn't have that year.

 

"He needs that year of transition and we are trying to make the right decisions for him to give him the best transitional year for him to have the player we want in our future."