William Saliba (Out)

Fofana was on the bench last game something saliba who came here months before havent been able to do

 

There are different situations going on with both players.

It's clear both are highly rated and being a 19 year old CB who doesn't start in EPL straight away is no problem at all, no matter what the fee was.

 

Who is talking about starts? The boy can’t make Europa league and pl registration squads. How many 30 million players has not been registered after 1 year? He may become decent player in few years and it would have still been terrible business. We needed a decent cab last season and maybe we would be better than 8th

 

He will go on loan to get starts, not be here for a few games.

We have Gabriel who has performed well and being already one who has to adjust to EPL. In addition to that Luiz, Holding and a few others.

Also we got Partey who will stabilize the midfield which helps the defence.

Again, you don't know the payment structure of the deal. Pepe deal from Raul has been rumoured to be to be paid in many years, so the hit is not likely very bad to our budget. Top CB's cost north of 80 million pounds so this one was for the future.

 

Top cbs cost north of 80 million? Only 1 defender in history cost 80 million. Only 2 has ever been more than 70 million. Only 4 cbs has gone for more than 60 million ever. Ok let’s exaggerate so we can pretend 30 million for a prospect that may become good in few years is good investment. We will have Kolasinac playing left cb if needed. That says the level this boy is at now.

Also you think the club would have made Pepe deal if they knew what they know now? Or even the saliva deal?

 

Yeah we couldn't shift Kola so he will likely play some games. Another reason why Saliba goes on loan to get starts.

 

Meaning him playing ahead of kola as cb makes no difference to the team. In fact kola may even be better can that him right now

 

I think sending Saliba on loan makes perfect sense and will be the right thing for his development. We have a lot of CBs and even if they aren't world class they have EPL experience and have been playing their best football under Arteta.

Gabriel, Luiz, and Holding are Arteta's preferred CBs, but we also have Mustafi, Chambers, and Mari. None of them are incredible, but Mustafi looked like a completely new player under Arteta, and Chambers was one of our best players last season before his injury.

It is possible that Saliba would jump ahead of a lot of our defenders, but the likelihood that we play with a back four and our CB partnership is a 19-year-old and a 22-year-old was always going to be slim.

Who cares if Fofana is on the bench for LC. Are we saying that we think Brendan Rodgers has better judgment than Arteta?

If we send Saliba to the right team in the Championship that is fighting for promotion, he'll hopefully play every week and get a better idea of what it takes to fight for a title. Next season, Luiz, Mustafi, and Sokratis will leave and Saliba will be a core part of our new defense.

Who knows what will happen with Chambers, but Holding is improving a lot. Having a core of Gabriel, Holding, Saliba, Chambers, and Mari could be pretty good.

 

No one is saying arteta has bad judgement. He had nothing to do with saliba coming here. We play with 3 at the back and you mentioned 6 cb who right now can contribute more than our 30 million cab. Outside Gabriel we wouldn’t even get 10 million pound for any of them. It’s easier to give him minutes in 3 man defence than 2. Maybe we should buy few more 30 million prospects for the future and they may become top players in few years

 

It has been pretty clear for a while that Arteta's plan is to play with a flat back four, and we reverted to three at the back because our defense was leaking goals. I will be amazed if Arteta keeps on playing with three at the back for most of this season after buying Partey.

Also, even when we play with three at the back we still only use two CBs. Tierney or Kolasinac have played as the LCB because Arteta switches to a back four when we are in possession. I honestly don't understand how people think our back three means we play with three CBs when we actually never do that.

In our starting 11, we play with two CBs regardless of whether it is four or three at the back. Our CBs are Gabriel, Luiz, Holding, Mustafi, Chambers, and Mari, not including Saliba and Sokratis. We have eight players for two positions. Sokratis isn't even registered for the Europa League, and he got plenty of minutes for us last year and played well.

Like I said in the earlier post, Mustafi and Chambers also played well last year too. Hypothetically, Saliba could jump ahead of Mari, Chambers, and Mustafi; but that would make him fourth choice for our two CBs positions. He's 19, and he needs to play every week and get used to English football. He won't get that here.

It is definitely a very romantic idea that we'll have a CB partnership of Saliba and Gabriel right now, and 19-year-old and 22-year-old will guide us to the top four, but that idea is pretty ridiculous.

I could care less about what Rodgers does with Fofana. Different coach, different squad, different ambitions. I think Fofana is LCs main defensive purchase this window. LC mostly sell their best defenders. Gabriel is the main defender that we bought, and Saliba is #2.

And yeah, we spent about 30 million on Saliba, and he has three more years on his deal. And yeah, our older defenders wouldn't sell for that amount, but most of them are on the last year of their contract. Mustafi, Sokratis, and Luiz are on the last year of their deals. Including Özil's wages we'll save about 30 million pounds a year just on their wages, and we won't need to sign any players to replace them.

When we bought him we knew he wasn't ready for the EPL so we let him stay at St. Etienne to develop. Due to injuries and COVID, he played about 11 matches. Last year was not the developmental year that we thought it would be. No one is doubting his potential, but he needs more experience to prove that he can deliver every week. Gabriel already has that experience.

If Saliba plays really well on loan do with think his value will go down? If he sits on the bench for much of the season it will. If he comes back a better player and gets regular minutes, I doubt it would be too hard to extend his contract.

A loan will do him good, and hopefully, next season Gabriel, Holding, Saliba, Chambers, and Mari can be an elite group of CBs.

 

I don’t care about his value going up and down. I’m more worried about him not being able to contribute anything this year. And we play with 3 cab since arteta has been here. I don’t know what even with 3 at the back we play with 2 cb means. Unless you saying tierney plays as left back in this system which he certainly don’t do. I love how you guys are changing tune now. 2 months ago no one was saying he should be loaned out. Instead most who made their 11s had him in it. Maybe the most simple explanation is the correct one. Arteta don’t rate him? Until proven wrong that’s the only logical explanation

 

Non registration was indicative of the fact that they plan to loan him out. Not that he cannot cut it as part of the squad. It's the toughest position in the PL. Arteta is conservative in his selections. Relax and deal with it.

 

When we play with three at the back, one of our three defenders is either Tierney or Kolasinac. They are not CBs. Tierney and Kolasinac are both LBs, but they play as LCBs in this formation. The other two defenders we use are CBs. This is how we still only use two CBs despite playing with three at the back.

Arteta will not use three CBs in our back three because he likes our LCB to push up, spread the pitch, and play as a LB when we have possession. This is why a back three of Holding, Luiz, and Gabriel won't happen. Gabriel despite being left-footed isn't a LB, so we wouldn't be able to attack in the same way.

This is why regardless of whether we play with three or four at the back, we will only play with two CBs. This isn't complicated.

Everyone wanted Saliba to jump into the starting lineup because our defense looked awful all season. Any defender would be a welcomed arrival. However, since Arteta arrived Mustafi has had arguably his best form as an Arsenal player, Holding keeps on improving, and Luiz has become less of a liability. And we also signed Gabriel.

Lots of things can change in a couple of months, and especially when those months include winning the FA Cup, Community Shield, and the summer transfer window.

Regardless of how talented Saliba is he's probably not going to get enough minutes this season for us and that could stunt his development. It makes sense to send him on loan.

 

As far as I am concerned it is preferable that Saliba plays 30-40 games in the Championship than 5-10 games here in the Europa against weak opposition.

 

But he always plays Nketiah who just isn't good enough.

 

Really don't like this at all. A Premier League move would Have made sense, but The Champiomship is a. A lower standard than Ligue 1 and b. Poses a different type of style to The Premier Leagur. It's foolish.

 

Those that feel a £3om 19 yr old CB should be playing for us this season, need to understand why he's not. We had a plan for him and due to the death of his Mother and the pandemic, this plan has been derailed. Those that are concerned its due to his quality need to read up on the progress of Saliba to date. He has been playing way beyond his years throughout his teens, always playing with older kids and shinning among them.

I'm impressed with the club for their patience, some may just play him anyway just because he cost £30m, that's not the right approach and I look forward to him coming back into the fold well prepared and ready to play PL football.

 

19 is a child in CB years

Don't get why people thought he'd come in immediately and play? Because of the fee?

In 2011 Varane went to Real for £11m, same year we signed Mertesacker for £9m. How much would Mertesacker cost these days?

He's not ready and we paid the going rate for a young CB with potential. Varane didn't start for Real and Saliba won't start for us

 

Not sure it was planned going by the interview when he got the #4. Sounded like he very much expected to stay & all reports were saying he could play if Luiz injured with the neck issue early season.

He can now prove himself in the Championship... if ready next season great & if not hopefully the Championship club gets promoted so an easy option there.

 

Well made points. It's not that I think he should ve a regular starter at 19. Hell, who is at the big Premier League clubs as a teenager? Foden? Mount? Greenwood? Saka? Martinelli? Greenwood is probably the closest to being a regular starter.

Loaning him to the 2nd tier is the part in struggling with.