William Saliba Says He’s “Not Thinking” About Arsenal Return

William Saliba is focusing on performing for Marseille, not a potential Arsenal return…

Arsenal loanee William Saliba is not looking too far into the future and is focusing on competing for Marseille during his third consecutive Ligue 1 loan spell, the defender told Eurosport.

Saliba was signed in the summer of 2019 under Unai Emery’s premiership and despite the deal including a loan back to his former club St-Etienne, he came with a huge reputation.

It was expected that after that loan spell, the French U21 international would return to north London to compete for a place in the first team.

However, during that first loan spell, a lot transpired. Emery was sacked in November 2019 and in came former skipper Mikel Arteta.

More significantly, the pandemic halted the entire world and while other leagues paused, the French authorities decided to curtail the entire season.

What was supposed to be a season of learning for Saliba turned into one where little football was played.

Then, the disastrous handling of his situation in the summer of 2020 saw the club fail to secure a loan move away for the youngster, forcing him to rely on U23 football until January.

“It is not a direct message,” Saliba said when asked about his impressive performances and how they’re being received by his parent club.

“But since I didn’t play for six months, that I had a hard time, I wanted to show that I had the capacity to play at this club. I do it for myself first. It’s not revenge.”

A move to Rennes followed and before Saliba could start to make north London his home, his bags were packed once again to return to France – this time with Marseille.

£27m was the fee we paid for him two-and-a-half years ago, and Saliba is yet to kick a ball in a competitive fixture for us.

Now, Saliba doesn’t want to focus on what’s to come and would rather concentrate on his current club.

“I’m on loan, but I pretend I’m there for many years. I’m not thinking about returning to Arsenal [right now]. I give myself to Marseille. I don’t think about what will happen afterwards.”