Arteta Lists Areas Of Improvement In William Saliba’s Game

Arteta feels Saliba can get better…

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta stated that he still feels William Saliba has huge room for improvement as the squad gears up for the second half of the campaign, the boss told TNT Sports.

Saliba has been outstanding so far this campaign, picking up from where he left off last season when his back injury effectively ended our title challenge.

We collapsed in the final months of the campaign defensively, with the Frenchman’s ability on the ball and recovery pace a huge asset to our game.

This term, he’s gone on to establish himself as one of the best central defenders in the Premier League and at just 22 years of age, that’s an unprecedented feat.

Central defenders usually peak in their late 20s, so it’s no surprise to hear Arteta claim Saliba can still grow as a player.

“His trajectory has been extremely consistent and he still has big room for improvement especially on his leadership skills in the team,” Arteta was quoted as saying.

“The way you have to command the line, the way you make adjustments, to continue to develop his presence in the game. Not only when he is defending but in many other aspects [like] scoring more goals and being more efficient in the opponents’ box, looking to have more threat in his game in ball possession.

“There are a lot of things that we can still develop with him.”

Arteta is a coach who likes to guard against complacency and I imagine he’s attempting to keep Saliba focused considering all the noise around him.

Saliba has made a few mishaps this season, most of which went unpunished and thus – in the era of ‘fail comps’ – went unnoticed. It’s these lapses that the former St-Etienne man will want to erase from his game – something that will come naturally with age.

The 22-year-old will be hoping to get Arsenal back on tract when Crystal Palace come to north London this weekend – a win will see us close the gap at the top to just two points.