Saliba's stance on Arsenal return leaves Arteta with huge transfer problems

Arsenal defender William Saliba is not prepared to return to the Emirates to only sit on the bench, according to the player's personal coach.

Signed for £27million during the summer window in 2019, the Frenchman has yet to make a single competitive appearance for the club.

He initially returned to St Etienne on loan for the 19/20 campaign, with the hope of securing more first-team football.

However, a combination of injuries and the Covid-19 pandemic meant Gunners boss Mikel Arteta felt he hadn't progressed enough to feature in the Premier League.

Saliba remained with the club at the start of last season, but was omitted from Arteta's Premier League and Europa League squads.

William Saliba has been frustrated by a lack of opportunities at Arsenal ( Image:

Getty Images)

Subsequently, he joined Nice on another loan deal, before Arsenal again allowed him to leave temporarily, joining Marseille for the season.

The 20-year-old has flourished since joining the Ligue 1 outfit, with manager Jorge Sampaoli recently labelling him as a "future great".

"He's a top player at his position," said the Argentine manager of Saliba, per RMC Sport. "We were lucky to get him on loan, it wasn't simple.

"He's great at marking, but good bringing the ball out too. He's a future great of French football, he's very good at starting plays."

His good form has Arsenal fans already excited about the possibility of him coming into the starting lineup next season.

Arteta splashed the cash on his defensive unit in the most recent window, smashing the club's transfer record to land £50m Ben White.

According to reports, the Gunners could sign another defender in January, with technical director Edu already drawing out transfer plans.

Saliba has impressed since joining Marseille on a season-long loan ( Image:

NurPhoto/PA Images)

The report claims Arsenal will try to sign another defensive player, along with a central midfielder and a back-up goalkeeper.

But Arteta has been warned that Saliba will only return to the club if he has a genuine chance of regular minutes.

Fitness coach Nicolas St-Maurice worked alongside Saliba in Dubai and saw several traits that could help him thrive in English football - along with a very favourable comparison.

"He's a very nice guy, very hard working," St-Maurice told Football.London. "We worked on a number of things such as speed, power, you know he's a big guy also and he's strong.

"When you're so young and you're big and strong you aren't as quick as the smaller guys.

"We worked a bit on that and he did really well. When I first saw him I thought of [Virgil] Van Dijk because of his positions of plays and he has the right potential to make it far."

St-Maurice continued: "William is humble and smart. Arsenal fans are annoyed right now because he's not at the club and he's doing really well in Marseille but I think last season he missed some games on top of COVID.

"Saliba needs to play more and he will come good. He does not want to come to Arsenal and sit on the bench, that's not his mentality, he wants to be playing for Arsenal.

"Next season he will make a solid case for himself."