Arsenal are planning to loan out William Saliba to a Championship club before the domestic window closes later this month, according to the Press Association journalist Mark Mann-Bryans.
A move back to Saint-Etienne for a second loan spell collapsed on deadline day but, with the Frenchman unlikely to get much game time under manager Mikel Arteta, the decision has been made to find him a club in the second tier of English football:
Arsenal are looking into the possibility of loaning William Saliba to a Championship side in the coming days.
Deal to Saint-Etienne fell through but is felt he needs a year of playing regular football.
Domestic window open until October 16 and move seen as ideal. #AFC
— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) October 6, 2020
Supporters on Twitter are very much split on whether Saliba should be loaned out, with some believing the 19-year-old should be playing in the Gunners’ first team, while others think a year in the Championship could benefit him hugely:
Ffs why can’t we just keep him
— fazinhoV3 (@fazinhoV3) October 6, 2020
Let’s loan to Norwich as Godfrey is gone and take Beundia
— Bernd (@ZackPHP) October 6, 2020
This doesn’t make sense ffs.
— F P. (@freddyparklands) October 6, 2020
Bournemouth would be a good place to go
— Dave Arsenal (@AFCvTheEnemy) October 6, 2020
Brentford would be perfect
— Pranav (@pranav_268) October 6, 2020
He will boss the championship.
— Edwin de Waard (@Gabriel02606786) October 6, 2020
Championship? Ffs at least brentford please
— N5ForLife (@N5ForLife) October 6, 2020
A whole year? Surely he just needs to play for 3 months then Arsenal can recall him in Jan and try to offload Sokratis/Mustafi.
— Keith M (@JagerbombsORtea) October 6, 2020
Might as well keep him in that case
— ? (@Meszoot) October 6, 2020
Saliba has only made 36 senior appearances in his career and that has, no doubt, played a role in Arsenal’s decision to find him regular game time at another club, where he can increase his first-team experience.
With Arteta having eight centre-backs in the squad, with the likes of Sokratis having stayed despite interest from Napoli, competition for places is fierce so Saliba’s departure would make sense in that regard.