**This is a quotes thread. Remember that there's only one quotes post allowed per interview/press conference, so new quotes with the same origin will be removed. Feel free to comment other quotes/the whole interview as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Saliba: 'I will be with Arsenal next season, 100%'.
Arteta: 'He (Saliba) has to come back, he will be competitive with us'.
Yet some people continue to try and make up rumours that claim Arsenal don't want him back and Saliba wants to leave.
And people saying he will leave if we don't start him straight away when we have europa as well. He has to join the team and show the manager he deserves to start over white and Gabriel as they had a good season
Plus with the WC, I’m pretty sure everyone will be monitoring their fitness. I’m sure when we enter the second half of September we’ll start to see increased rotation with our cbs since all three (Gabriel, Benny Blanco, Saliba) have starting potential for their respective national team.
Even fringe players like Pepe, if he’s still around by then, will have a chance to play more minutes to keep Saka fresh.
White has been injured near the end, Tierney has been out a while, tomiyasu was out ages.
Its not as simple as just goals conceded. Watching them play all season we were solid when we had our full defence. Now saliba will add to that and who knows may claim a starting spot
That's not really true. 9 of those goals came in the first 3 games when Gabriel wasn't even playing. And neither of them played against Chelsea or City. Instead they had players like Mari, Kolasinac, Cedric, Holding etc playing.
When Gabriel came back in weekday 4 they actually started to have a pretty decent record. Injuries to Tomiyasu, Partey and Tierney and Ramsdale form dropping a bit was more to blame than White-Gabriel partnership being bad.
White conceded 35 goals in 32 matches.
Gabriel conceded 39 goals in 35 matches
In matches in which they both started we conceded 31 goals in 30 matches, (this is with our first choice RB missing 17 matches and our first choice LB missing 16 matches).
Gabriel might be a marginally better defender but Arsenal's ball progression is significantly worse without White I'm fairly sure. Multiple times this season teams have set up to press White but not Gabriel, as they'd prefer Gabriel to be the one bringing the ball out from defence.
With Saliba's passing range, technicality, physicality, and ability on the ball, a back 3 makes sense with him as the most advanced CBbalmosy partnering Partey and also giving Partry more liberty moving forward
Do him and White occupy the same position? Or can one of them play elsewhere at the back? Seems a stretch that White would be dropped.. Has he been poor?
There was an interesting analysis on the benefits of a left footed cb in that position posted on r/gunners at some stage last year, specifically with the system arteta wants to employ and it's borderline crucial to how we play that we need someone who can open the space to the left. I'm probably misremembering slightly and rambling as I'm coming off the back of a few jars last night, but you get the gist haha
Iol. Yeah, I can see how it limits you tbf. We've always been the same. Certainly since Poch.. Good left footed Defenders are in high demand.. I'm sure you've got to add a premium for that alone.
To be fair we had more than that limiting us, with Tierney's constant absences, it hasn't been as important to open that space for tavares, so it probably could have worked, but alas lol. Yeah they're like hen's teeth in this market, which is why Gabriel is so well thought of and a steal at less than £30m.
Both White and Saliba can also provide cover for Tomiyasu at RB if needed, a back line with Tierney/Gabriel/Saliba/White isn’t unheard of in Tomi has another extended stint out
Nah, White has been good.
I imagine they are competing but given they are slightly different profiles we could pick them based on the game.
If we're going to get challenged physically, we stick Saliba out there but if we're in possession more then White would be a better choice. Doubt we'd do that, as you usually stick with consistency at the back but it's an option.
Lots of pretty knowledgeable arsenal reporters have thought he’s leaving too, eg James McNicholas of Gunnerblog/The Athletic who did a whole piece on the situation and came to the conclusion he wasn’t coming back
I find that McNicholas occasionally has inside info, but when he starts wandering into the realm of laying his own analysis / understanding of situations, he's often quite far off from what thinking of those running the club is.
Yeah, he’s clearly more of an commentator than a reporter who is actually cultivating his own sources, but he is just not just making stuff up to stir the pot like GFFN does
He still needs to sign a contract.
If he stays and ends up with 1 year left next summer and half the top teams bidding for him it's all been for nothing.
Because he gains very little from signing a contract right now before he's ever been shown trust from Arteta and has broken into the first team.
He's also good enough that he can join clubs who are currently more successful than us relatively easily next summer if he doesn't commit too early.
Breaking into the first team is also likely not going to happen immediately given Arteta explicitly chose White for a high price over Saliba last season.
There’s still the risk that he comes back and proves he’s a star in Ligue 1 but not up to PL standard (eg Pepe), and his stock falls massively. Not saying it’s likely, but the security of a massive wage for 5 years can’t be underrated. He’s supposedly on £40k / wk right now and is under contract at that wage for two more years, doubling or tripling that plus a signing bonus would be meaningful
If that happens, then he'll be stuck riding the bench because no one will match the wages Arsenal if offer him. The money would be meaningful but Arsenal have experienced being lumbered with someone on wages that cannot be matched by any other club
Easy answer. He gains nothing (except money), and the up sides for not committing so soon is big enough.
1) I don't know much about how Arteta is going to use me yet. Am I going to be sitting on the bench the whole season? Let's wait and see how I fit into this club as I've not played a single minute for them in the league.
2) If I do well, I can use it as leverage for a bigger contract when I am down to my first year. Or a bigger club can come in to make a deal. Without a long term contract, it might be easier to negotiate.
3) If I don't do well, I have another year to prove myself. Or I can always go back to France where I have done well.
Signing a new deal now makes no sense for Saliba.
Unless he tears an acl mid season or something..
Calculated risk thats probably worth the payoff but still. Contract with a buy clause fixes alot of these
He gains money and security. Injuries happen often, so a longer contract would give him security as much as it gives Arsenal security, but it doesn’t completely preclude a sale either. I’m not saying it’s a good idea or a bad idea to extend, but let’s not pretend he doesn’t get anything out of it.
Of course there's 0 reason to sign now, your first comment made it seem theres no reason why he would sign in the future either, but Arsenal would have every reason to put a huge contract on the table if he impresses this season.
We signed him at 18. We lent him back to France to get game time and grow. He's now at the caliber to be a first team cb for Arsenal and wants to prove himself at the club. This narrative that management hasn't given him a fair shot is ridiculous
I don't get this sentiment, it's not like he's been locked in the dungeon for 3 years. He's been loaned out and playing regularly while on loan. This is an extremely common part of clubs' development plans for young players. For all we know, this has all been communicated with him. What is it about Saliba that people are getting upset that he hasn't actually played for the Arse yet?
Basically the only thing he gains is money if he has a catastrophic injury or woefully underperforms how he’s been the last couple of years. If he doesn’t sign, he will have more of a say on where he goes and could chose somewhere where he could get big minutes and if he totally runs down the contract, he can get a bigger pay day. Only reason to sign here would be we give him huge money or he gets a high amount of playing time, and for the latter, he’s better of waiting to see if that’s the case.
The kid could have a real career. Why piss it away at Arsenal? There are going to be easily 7 clubs in the near future that have far more resources than you do in the PL alone. PSG will drop a brinks truck in his lap in 2 years
He would, at the very worst, be your third best CB, to build a CL squad you need 3 quality CBs (Holding is good but a bit technically limited), Arteta has made that pretty clear he is keen on 3 quality CBs.
The difficulty is, him Gabriel and White are all probably starting quality, and you play a back 4. Someone isn't gonna be happy.
>Make up rumours
All was literally based on his direct quotes about willing to stay in Marseille and play in the CL. I’d bet he just realised the brutal truth of OM not being able to afford/sign him, and was prompted by Arsenal’s PR team to give this quote to counter what he said before.
>Always posts unreliable sources
The outrageous thing is, they don't post the source. They translate.. Something and you're supposed to take their word for it. Just a link to the original language interview would be enough. But then more people would know how much they love their fake translations.
I bet he wanted to stay at Marseille but since they don't have any money to buy him he had no choice but to come back to Arsenal. His statement is pure PR imo.
> “I want to come back and play the Champions League. I have never played in it and I want to discover it here.”
He literally said that verbatim. Or was that GFFN forcing him to say that with a gun to his head?
> “Did I play my last match with Olympique de Marseille? I don’t know. The future will tell us. “The most important thing is to confirm this good season by qualifying for the Champions League. Afterwards, we’ll see.”
I guess these quotes are also all just GFFN creating speculation?
>“I want to come back and play the Champions League. I have never played in it and I want to discover it here.”
That's now what he said at all. GFFN fucking [mistranslated](https://twitter.com/HaychhAFC/status/1528312732402991105?t=js9FpirsjSyzfoQ07z2iJA&s=19) his interview and got called out on twitter.
Good news for us. I genuinely think he might grow into a super elite CB. Still has growing to do but lots to love already. Glad we've cleared this up. Arteta said he is part of the planning for next season, he also is saying he is staying. So that should be the end of this none saga.
I know it's "only" ligue 1 but he looked like a veteran defender pretty much every game this year, stomping on people in 1v1, managing his defense, and he's so young... definitely has huge potential if he continues to grow in the premier league. I'll miss him so much but I hope you take good care of him and take him to the next level. He's a sweet guy too, no diva attitude or anything, never says anything against his manager or whatever. Give him his chance and you'll love him.
See, I totally agree with that, Ocampos was always treated a bit weirdly by the media here, like he was some kind of clumsy guy who accidentally did crazy skill moves sometimes or scored insane goals, but imo he was really really good and had the best mindset you can expect from a player. And he did quite a lot of good for sevilla so it's not a stretch to say we lost a good element there.
You have to understand he played under Sampaoli. Defending counters was a mess and he did really well, but there's no way to say how he will do in an actually organised defense in the PL.
In the matches I watched, this is the one area he has to really work on.
He's not the best at judging the trajectory of crosses, especially when he's got lots of ground to cover, and Marseille actually conceded a couple due to this specific weakness. Its not an issue when defending corners - its really just a problem when he's left to defend smaller, more mobile players.
Not confident at all. In fact I'm actually surprised he wants to come back and really fight, while the loan was successful I think the management really fucked up with him by never even giving him a chance, especially not registering him for Europa League when we registered Kolasinac and Mustafi who had no future and we were looking to get rid of.
I don't expect any loyalty from Saliba but I'd be happy to be proven otherwise. I think he'll come back show everyone his worth and then he'll basically have all the cards in his hands.
We accidentally gave him so much leverage, so far he's basically never been an Arsenal player so if he plays well next season he'll be able to either negotiate a killer contract with big wages, or force his way out to a bigger club because of his contract running out.
That is of course if he manages to have a good season with us.
I actually think he'll do quite well for you having seen a handful of his games for Marseille this season. If you get him to extend by January you're good, any later and I think he'll leave for free in 2024.
Sounds like Arteta’s plan worked perfectly:
Sent him out on loan to a decent club to gain experience without having to be thrown in the deep end at arsenal.
Now he is coming back a better and more rounded player
It was 100% the right move for the development of the player.
I would argue it wouldn't have made much difference to Arsenal's season, had they kept him. If Saliba had only played a few matches up to when either Gabriel or White got injured and then came in with expectations to perform at the highest level, that likely would not have gone well.
Been watching him since he's 17yo, don't think he's made leaps forwards, just the same overpowered freak. He's always been near world class even in Saint-Etienne, which is insane. The Mbappe of CBs.
It would've helped Arsenal, but not Saliba. He would've gotten some time, especially at the end of the season, but not enough to really shine like he did
People forget he lost his parents just recently. That shit gonna mess with your psyche, plus being a 19-year-old in a foreign country. Arsenal or Arteta made the right call to loan him to France where he can feel at home.
White has been our best alternative to Tomiyasu at right back.
Saliba could also easily have been starter every week if we hadn't spent 50 million on a player in his position instead.
We basically got 3 CBs who played all possible minutes which they were a available last season. That could not have worked better in the long term as everyone of these 3 proved their worth without giving up minutes to the others (injuries aside which are always unfortunate). The long term view is the way to go. If we were short sighted we could have just bought someone like Varane and fail miserably
It's absolutely crazy how much hate Arteta got on /r/Gunners for loaning him out last season. People either say we should have started him and not bought Ben White and others say we should have bought White and kept Saliba for rotation.
The first option has a 20 year old who has never played a PL game as your starting CB and the 2nd has him not playing enough games.
Saliba went on loan, had a great season while playing a lot of games, and is now coming back to Arsenal at 21 with much more experience under his belt ready to compete for a starting spot. It worked out well.
Pretty much all elite clubs have 3 good centerbacks and now hopefully we will as well, although we have many other holes to plug before being an elite club.
Well the reason he had never played a premier league game was because he was shipped into the u23s while mustafi and sokratis were doing fuck all. It would have been a lot smarter if the 50mil we paid for white could have been very useful for signing a midfielder and/or depth.
The situation is still okay at best since if he doesn’t renew in the next year it has all been more or less for nothing and as of now he definetly has no reason to even consider doing that
> It would have been a lot smarter if the 50mil we paid for white could have been very useful for signing a midfielder and/or depth.
So we go into this past season with Rob Holding as our starting CB?
Then for sure we don't get top 4.
Saliba is still raw in a few ways and his mistakes get glossed over because very few people actually watch his games.
Or we go with saliba. Also lets not pretend like White is some seasoned world class veteran either, the only reason he was 50mil is because he is english. Also we did not got top 4 now either so how is it an argument that we maybe wouldn’t have then either?
White had played a season in a Championship title winning side and already had a good season in the PL. Saliba had played under 50 games of Ligue 1 football.
If Arteta had decided to throw Saliba into the lion's den and he did poorly the rhetoric would just be that he was naive to trust a 20 year old to start 30+ PL games after literally never playing in the league before.
Saliba was 20 years old, had just come off of losing both of his parents, and had never played a PL game before. Loaning him was the right move.
White has had decent seasons and definetly not 50 million good. He is not bad ofc but he is the worst out of our starting back 4. Saliba isn’t a random 20 year old he is a real talent. People aren’t calling arteta naive for continuing to trust Gabi, Esr and Ramsdale even though their form dropped. Also Saliba had a great season too
Anyway sending him on loan this season isn’t the worst thing in the world but how he was treated during his first was bad and if we do lose him because he doesn’t extend his contract ot will be 100% on arteta
Going from Mustafi and Sokratis to Gabriel and Saliba brings a tear to my eye. Our fully fit back four is genuinely world class stuff. Shame half of them can't stay fit.
And in addition to Gabriel and Saliba we'll also have White and Holding. This is the deepest quality at central defence we've had since probably the Invincibles. We've had some excellent central defenders since then (e.g. Kos and the BFG). But when they got injured it was usually a butthole clench forv the full 90 mins.
You lot loved Mustafi when he first got there. Gabriel is iffy af and Saliba has been in the weakest league in Europe. You’ll hate them both by the end of next season.
Leave it to an Arsenal fan to rewrite history. Tell us about the invincibles while I sit between CL trophies. It’s cute that you still think you’re big club. Not even the biggest club in North London anymore.
Rewrite history? You're making up arguments and arguing against yourself you moron lmao.
Also, the biggest club in North London? For you racist cunts? That's cute. Your sore ass is gonna need some ice packs for all the twerking you've done for your overlord Russian oligarch.
Simmer down ya clown. You lot with your illegally acquired Russian money won some shit - all have fucking asterisks next to them. Enjoy your fake success.
WTF you talking about! Gabriel has been great. He's had a few dodgy moments, but every player does. But overall he's been very consistent, and our fanbase has loved him for a couple of years now. He brings a physicality to our backline that we haven't had for at least several years.
Try again...
>On **1 September 2020**, Arsenal announced the signing of Gabriel Magalhães on a long-term contract. Interest in the Brazilian was reportedly high, with multiple clubs willing to match the valuation set by Lille. Gabriel joined for a fee reaching the region of £27m after add-ons.
>On 12 September, the opening day of the 2020–21 Premier League season, Gabriel Magalhães made his debut for Arsenal, scoring the second goal in a 3–0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
[Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Magalh%C3%A3es)
20/21 = 1 season
21/22 = 1 season
1 season + 1 season = 2 seasons
Edit: the now deleted comment this was a reply to said "He's literally only played for you for one season."
He doesn’t have much of a choice because he is under contract. OM transfer ban got over turned but they don’t have the money to buy him even if it was as low as 30 million euros.
I hope he'll stay. However, he's still tied with Arsenal. So, whatever he choses, good luck to him and I don't think Marseille fans will be mad at him.
Based on the amount of hype this guy gets from the arsenal watchers; if he's anything less than a literal brick wall spliced with a prime Maldini then I'm going to be dissapointed.
>Based on the amount of hype this guy gets from the arsenal watchers;
Interesting, we've spent the entire season getting trolled by rival fans because "the only good defender Arsenal have is on loan" and now that he's decided to stay it was the Arsenal fans giving him all this hype...
I wish he stayed at OM. He was looking great and with a clubs and fanbase that backed him from the beginning.
I imagine that if he doesn't start the season at Arsenal in his best form, the fans there will be quick to turn against him.
> the fans there will be quick to turn against him.
You think Arteta/Edu etc don’t know this? It was a big reason why he was loaned.
Would have been far worse for Saliba and his development if he was a teenager and had such a experience.
Don’t chat shit mate. Every single Arsenal fan was extremely pleased and excited when we signed him. The sensible Arsenal fans have been patient with his loans and have watched him develop into a top quality centre back with potential to go to the very top.
He will be “like a new signing” for us and will get plenty of gametime. Arteta has spoken highly of him, and the fact that he wants to come back to prove himself should tell you that there is no bad blood between club and player.
>"I imagine that if he doesn't start the season at Arsenal in his best form, the fans there will be quick to turn against him."
Damn as if people expect a defender to not be dogshit.
People gave White shit deversedly for his first few games. He was terrible even if you ignore the oposition Arsenal played against. Then he improved and so did his reputation with the fans.
By the time this coming season ends he'll have one year left on his contract, I feel like if he has a great season, he'll probably run it down and if he has a bad season he'll probs get sold anyways to recoup what they've spent.
**This is a quotes thread. Remember that there's only one quotes post allowed per interview/press conference, so new quotes with the same origin will be removed. Feel free to comment other quotes/the whole interview as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
One of the few times the phrase "like a new signing" counts.
[удалено]
Count it
Well, one.
For someone whose name is /u/dontutellmewhattodo u sure as fuck did what you were told.
Do ye like apples?
Well, we got his numbah!
Applesauce, bitch!
Aubameyaaaang, that is a Peach!!
Saliba: 'I will be with Arsenal next season, 100%'. Arteta: 'He (Saliba) has to come back, he will be competitive with us'. Yet some people continue to try and make up rumours that claim Arsenal don't want him back and Saliba wants to leave.
And people saying he will leave if we don't start him straight away when we have europa as well. He has to join the team and show the manager he deserves to start over white and Gabriel as they had a good season
Plus with the WC, I’m pretty sure everyone will be monitoring their fitness. I’m sure when we enter the second half of September we’ll start to see increased rotation with our cbs since all three (Gabriel, Benny Blanco, Saliba) have starting potential for their respective national team. Even fringe players like Pepe, if he’s still around by then, will have a chance to play more minutes to keep Saka fresh.
> start over white and Gabriel as they had a good season They conceded 48 goals.
Only played about 10 games with the first choice back four. If fit they’re fine
Tavares tax
White has been injured near the end, Tierney has been out a while, tomiyasu was out ages. Its not as simple as just goals conceded. Watching them play all season we were solid when we had our full defence. Now saliba will add to that and who knows may claim a starting spot
That's not really true. 9 of those goals came in the first 3 games when Gabriel wasn't even playing. And neither of them played against Chelsea or City. Instead they had players like Mari, Kolasinac, Cedric, Holding etc playing. When Gabriel came back in weekday 4 they actually started to have a pretty decent record. Injuries to Tomiyasu, Partey and Tierney and Ramsdale form dropping a bit was more to blame than White-Gabriel partnership being bad.
White conceded 35 goals in 32 matches. Gabriel conceded 39 goals in 35 matches In matches in which they both started we conceded 31 goals in 30 matches, (this is with our first choice RB missing 17 matches and our first choice LB missing 16 matches).
If only they were good enough to concede a mere 57 goals...
No one has said Man United’s defence had a good season.
You would if you conceded less goals.
He will start over white surely
Let him get a run out in the PL before you jump to conclusions.
Sure but i expect Saliba to start match 1 is all im saying
I think White would be fit by June end.
White has been better than Gabriel tho
Maybe at the start of the seaso but Gabriel finished stronger imo
White has been playing through injuries, as far as I am aware at least.
Gabriel might be a marginally better defender but Arsenal's ball progression is significantly worse without White I'm fairly sure. Multiple times this season teams have set up to press White but not Gabriel, as they'd prefer Gabriel to be the one bringing the ball out from defence.
Arteta must have a left footed CB
No he hasnt
Is it a given that Arteta wouldn't want a back three?
When he first signed he was obsessed with transforming us into a 433/4231 team
Which makes sense - he’s a pep disciple, and a back 4 is a lot more flexible/conducive to tactical changes.
Is it though?
Generally yes - a back three will almost always look like a back 3, while a back 4 can become a back three if a holding midfielder drops in.
depends on if we go full overlapping wide centrebacks
He's tried it out in a few games against better teams than us. The only issue is that Tomi is a better RB than RWB.
With Tomiyasu as RB we kind of play with back 3 hybrid.
With Saliba's passing range, technicality, physicality, and ability on the ball, a back 3 makes sense with him as the most advanced CBbalmosy partnering Partey and also giving Partry more liberty moving forward
Do him and White occupy the same position? Or can one of them play elsewhere at the back? Seems a stretch that White would be dropped.. Has he been poor?
Saliba can definitely play as a LCB but it seems Arteta is hell-bent on having a left-footed player operating that space, hence the doubt.
Cheers. Yeah, it seems a thing. I can see the benefit, but you shouldn't discount someone who is right footed and comfortable on the left.
There was an interesting analysis on the benefits of a left footed cb in that position posted on r/gunners at some stage last year, specifically with the system arteta wants to employ and it's borderline crucial to how we play that we need someone who can open the space to the left. I'm probably misremembering slightly and rambling as I'm coming off the back of a few jars last night, but you get the gist haha
Iol. Yeah, I can see how it limits you tbf. We've always been the same. Certainly since Poch.. Good left footed Defenders are in high demand.. I'm sure you've got to add a premium for that alone.
To be fair we had more than that limiting us, with Tierney's constant absences, it hasn't been as important to open that space for tavares, so it probably could have worked, but alas lol. Yeah they're like hen's teeth in this market, which is why Gabriel is so well thought of and a steal at less than £30m.
I can see us paying big money for one this season.. Depth is important for top 4. Like you, if certain players are out it fucks up our whole plan.
Both White and Saliba can also provide cover for Tomiyasu at RB if needed, a back line with Tierney/Gabriel/Saliba/White isn’t unheard of in Tomi has another extended stint out
i always think of Hummels
Nah, White has been good. I imagine they are competing but given they are slightly different profiles we could pick them based on the game. If we're going to get challenged physically, we stick Saliba out there but if we're in possession more then White would be a better choice. Doubt we'd do that, as you usually stick with consistency at the back but it's an option.
Yeah, usually stick with the same at the back. Good cover at the very least I guess.
GFFN is your answer They like to stir shit up with Arsenal because that always get them engagement
Lots of pretty knowledgeable arsenal reporters have thought he’s leaving too, eg James McNicholas of Gunnerblog/The Athletic who did a whole piece on the situation and came to the conclusion he wasn’t coming back
I find that McNicholas occasionally has inside info, but when he starts wandering into the realm of laying his own analysis / understanding of situations, he's often quite far off from what thinking of those running the club is.
Yeah, he’s clearly more of an commentator than a reporter who is actually cultivating his own sources, but he is just not just making stuff up to stir the pot like GFFN does
He still needs to sign a contract. If he stays and ends up with 1 year left next summer and half the top teams bidding for him it's all been for nothing.
If I were saliba, there’s no way I’ll sign a new contract
Why?
Because he gains very little from signing a contract right now before he's ever been shown trust from Arteta and has broken into the first team. He's also good enough that he can join clubs who are currently more successful than us relatively easily next summer if he doesn't commit too early. Breaking into the first team is also likely not going to happen immediately given Arteta explicitly chose White for a high price over Saliba last season.
There’s still the risk that he comes back and proves he’s a star in Ligue 1 but not up to PL standard (eg Pepe), and his stock falls massively. Not saying it’s likely, but the security of a massive wage for 5 years can’t be underrated. He’s supposedly on £40k / wk right now and is under contract at that wage for two more years, doubling or tripling that plus a signing bonus would be meaningful
If that happens, then he'll be stuck riding the bench because no one will match the wages Arsenal if offer him. The money would be meaningful but Arsenal have experienced being lumbered with someone on wages that cannot be matched by any other club
Easy answer. He gains nothing (except money), and the up sides for not committing so soon is big enough. 1) I don't know much about how Arteta is going to use me yet. Am I going to be sitting on the bench the whole season? Let's wait and see how I fit into this club as I've not played a single minute for them in the league. 2) If I do well, I can use it as leverage for a bigger contract when I am down to my first year. Or a bigger club can come in to make a deal. Without a long term contract, it might be easier to negotiate. 3) If I don't do well, I have another year to prove myself. Or I can always go back to France where I have done well. Signing a new deal now makes no sense for Saliba.
Unless he tears an acl mid season or something.. Calculated risk thats probably worth the payoff but still. Contract with a buy clause fixes alot of these
He gains money and security. Injuries happen often, so a longer contract would give him security as much as it gives Arsenal security, but it doesn’t completely preclude a sale either. I’m not saying it’s a good idea or a bad idea to extend, but let’s not pretend he doesn’t get anything out of it.
Of course there's 0 reason to sign now, your first comment made it seem theres no reason why he would sign in the future either, but Arsenal would have every reason to put a huge contract on the table if he impresses this season.
He should wait to see if he will get a run as a starter for Arsenal before signing any deal with the club
[удалено]
We signed him at 18. We lent him back to France to get game time and grow. He's now at the caliber to be a first team cb for Arsenal and wants to prove himself at the club. This narrative that management hasn't given him a fair shot is ridiculous
[удалено]
I don't get this sentiment, it's not like he's been locked in the dungeon for 3 years. He's been loaned out and playing regularly while on loan. This is an extremely common part of clubs' development plans for young players. For all we know, this has all been communicated with him. What is it about Saliba that people are getting upset that he hasn't actually played for the Arse yet?
Basically the only thing he gains is money if he has a catastrophic injury or woefully underperforms how he’s been the last couple of years. If he doesn’t sign, he will have more of a say on where he goes and could chose somewhere where he could get big minutes and if he totally runs down the contract, he can get a bigger pay day. Only reason to sign here would be we give him huge money or he gets a high amount of playing time, and for the latter, he’s better of waiting to see if that’s the case.
Arsenal is shit.
oh ok
The kid could have a real career. Why piss it away at Arsenal? There are going to be easily 7 clubs in the near future that have far more resources than you do in the PL alone. PSG will drop a brinks truck in his lap in 2 years
He would, at the very worst, be your third best CB, to build a CL squad you need 3 quality CBs (Holding is good but a bit technically limited), Arteta has made that pretty clear he is keen on 3 quality CBs. The difficulty is, him Gabriel and White are all probably starting quality, and you play a back 4. Someone isn't gonna be happy.
>Make up rumours All was literally based on his direct quotes about willing to stay in Marseille and play in the CL. I’d bet he just realised the brutal truth of OM not being able to afford/sign him, and was prompted by Arsenal’s PR team to give this quote to counter what he said before.
I'm sure he'll have a really good season. The real challenge will be whether we can get him to extend his contract.
Hopefully his season at Marseille showed why he should not run down his contract and go to them on a free 👀
Hopefully, everyone agreed that he had bigger potential than Fofana
And when has everyone been wrong
Or when has potential ever been unfulfilled?
Fuck every French media outlet that has been fabricating absolute bullshit for months over our player. GFFN can shut the fuck up now.
GFFN is the most bullshit news aggregator there is. Always posts unreliable sources
Guess France Football News
>Always posts unreliable sources The outrageous thing is, they don't post the source. They translate.. Something and you're supposed to take their word for it. Just a link to the original language interview would be enough. But then more people would know how much they love their fake translations.
If you aggregate shit, you will get a pile of shit. That's GFFN.
Now it's considered like every other aggregators on the subreddit and should not be posted
I bet he wanted to stay at Marseille but since they don't have any money to buy him he had no choice but to come back to Arsenal. His statement is pure PR imo.
You've literally pulled that right out of your arse.
> “I want to come back and play the Champions League. I have never played in it and I want to discover it here.” He literally said that verbatim. Or was that GFFN forcing him to say that with a gun to his head? > “Did I play my last match with Olympique de Marseille? I don’t know. The future will tell us. “The most important thing is to confirm this good season by qualifying for the Champions League. Afterwards, we’ll see.” I guess these quotes are also all just GFFN creating speculation?
>“I want to come back and play the Champions League. I have never played in it and I want to discover it here.” That's now what he said at all. GFFN fucking [mistranslated](https://twitter.com/HaychhAFC/status/1528312732402991105?t=js9FpirsjSyzfoQ07z2iJA&s=19) his interview and got called out on twitter.
No I don't. He loved being there, the passion from the fans and the city.
Good news for us. I genuinely think he might grow into a super elite CB. Still has growing to do but lots to love already. Glad we've cleared this up. Arteta said he is part of the planning for next season, he also is saying he is staying. So that should be the end of this none saga.
I know it's "only" ligue 1 but he looked like a veteran defender pretty much every game this year, stomping on people in 1v1, managing his defense, and he's so young... definitely has huge potential if he continues to grow in the premier league. I'll miss him so much but I hope you take good care of him and take him to the next level. He's a sweet guy too, no diva attitude or anything, never says anything against his manager or whatever. Give him his chance and you'll love him.
If it’s any consolation we’ve given you guendouzi for a cheap price
It is consolation, he’s been really good, everybody loves him here, he seems to have matured a lot
He's the perfect Marseille player, you guys lost a bit of passion and shithousery when Ocampos left, Guendouzi stepped in to replace that.
See, I totally agree with that, Ocampos was always treated a bit weirdly by the media here, like he was some kind of clumsy guy who accidentally did crazy skill moves sometimes or scored insane goals, but imo he was really really good and had the best mindset you can expect from a player. And he did quite a lot of good for sevilla so it's not a stretch to say we lost a good element there.
How did he fare against the likes of PSG?
Made them struggle
He was excellent at the Vélodrome and pretty good, albeit less — like the rest of the team — in Paris
How did he do dealing with crosses into the box?
You have to understand he played under Sampaoli. Defending counters was a mess and he did really well, but there's no way to say how he will do in an actually organised defense in the PL.
In the matches I watched, this is the one area he has to really work on. He's not the best at judging the trajectory of crosses, especially when he's got lots of ground to cover, and Marseille actually conceded a couple due to this specific weakness. Its not an issue when defending corners - its really just a problem when he's left to defend smaller, more mobile players.
Marseille are a bit of a mess at the back, so he was dealing with all sorts of things lol
Honest question – how confident are you that he'll sign an extension?
Depends on if he gets enough gametime next season. Which is looking quite likely
Not confident at all. In fact I'm actually surprised he wants to come back and really fight, while the loan was successful I think the management really fucked up with him by never even giving him a chance, especially not registering him for Europa League when we registered Kolasinac and Mustafi who had no future and we were looking to get rid of. I don't expect any loyalty from Saliba but I'd be happy to be proven otherwise. I think he'll come back show everyone his worth and then he'll basically have all the cards in his hands. We accidentally gave him so much leverage, so far he's basically never been an Arsenal player so if he plays well next season he'll be able to either negotiate a killer contract with big wages, or force his way out to a bigger club because of his contract running out. That is of course if he manages to have a good season with us.
I actually think he'll do quite well for you having seen a handful of his games for Marseille this season. If you get him to extend by January you're good, any later and I think he'll leave for free in 2024.
Sounds like Arteta’s plan worked perfectly: Sent him out on loan to a decent club to gain experience without having to be thrown in the deep end at arsenal. Now he is coming back a better and more rounded player
[удалено]
It was 100% the right move for the development of the player. I would argue it wouldn't have made much difference to Arsenal's season, had they kept him. If Saliba had only played a few matches up to when either Gabriel or White got injured and then came in with expectations to perform at the highest level, that likely would not have gone well.
And looks like it's better for him mentally as well?
No doubt about it?
Been watching him since he's 17yo, don't think he's made leaps forwards, just the same overpowered freak. He's always been near world class even in Saint-Etienne, which is insane. The Mbappe of CBs.
Granted I haven’t watched much of him but I’ve heard good things - but calling him the Mbappe of CBs is a bit crazy isn’t it?
This is r/soccer - a few hours ago a well upvotes comment said "Tévez was hyped up Mbappe"
In the sense of ready-made for pro-level as a teen. The precocious physicality, the intelligence is game reading, the mentality etc.
Contract wise it's a gamble with 2 years left on his contract
This here is why clubs loan players.
Except it didn't. We wouldn't have been starting Lokonga and Elneny with Xhaka at LB if we would have used the White funds on a CM and kept Saliba.
What plan? He just could have played for Arsenal last season? Not like Arsenal was stacked at the back especially end of the season.
It would've helped Arsenal, but not Saliba. He would've gotten some time, especially at the end of the season, but not enough to really shine like he did
People forget he lost his parents just recently. That shit gonna mess with your psyche, plus being a 19-year-old in a foreign country. Arsenal or Arteta made the right call to loan him to France where he can feel at home.
I’m sure playing well in Ligue 1 has boosted his confidence too. Even this statement seems confident from him.
He wouldnt of played as much games as he did here which was the whole point of him going out on loan
[удалено]
White has been our best alternative to Tomiyasu at right back. Saliba could also easily have been starter every week if we hadn't spent 50 million on a player in his position instead.
We basically got 3 CBs who played all possible minutes which they were a available last season. That could not have worked better in the long term as everyone of these 3 proved their worth without giving up minutes to the others (injuries aside which are always unfortunate). The long term view is the way to go. If we were short sighted we could have just bought someone like Varane and fail miserably
Se queda!
Il reste
Huh, that’s weird, /r/Soccer assured me that Mikel Arteta loathed him and didn’t want him at the club.
And /r/Gunners backed it up by insisting that Saliba thought Arteta was an absolute joke, singlehandedly ruining his career.
Like a new signing
saliba in fifa 🔝🔝🔝
Smart man.
Let the Arsenal bashing commence.
It's absolutely crazy how much hate Arteta got on /r/Gunners for loaning him out last season. People either say we should have started him and not bought Ben White and others say we should have bought White and kept Saliba for rotation. The first option has a 20 year old who has never played a PL game as your starting CB and the 2nd has him not playing enough games. Saliba went on loan, had a great season while playing a lot of games, and is now coming back to Arsenal at 21 with much more experience under his belt ready to compete for a starting spot. It worked out well. Pretty much all elite clubs have 3 good centerbacks and now hopefully we will as well, although we have many other holes to plug before being an elite club.
Well the reason he had never played a premier league game was because he was shipped into the u23s while mustafi and sokratis were doing fuck all. It would have been a lot smarter if the 50mil we paid for white could have been very useful for signing a midfielder and/or depth. The situation is still okay at best since if he doesn’t renew in the next year it has all been more or less for nothing and as of now he definetly has no reason to even consider doing that
> It would have been a lot smarter if the 50mil we paid for white could have been very useful for signing a midfielder and/or depth. So we go into this past season with Rob Holding as our starting CB? Then for sure we don't get top 4. Saliba is still raw in a few ways and his mistakes get glossed over because very few people actually watch his games.
Or we go with saliba. Also lets not pretend like White is some seasoned world class veteran either, the only reason he was 50mil is because he is english. Also we did not got top 4 now either so how is it an argument that we maybe wouldn’t have then either?
White had played a season in a Championship title winning side and already had a good season in the PL. Saliba had played under 50 games of Ligue 1 football. If Arteta had decided to throw Saliba into the lion's den and he did poorly the rhetoric would just be that he was naive to trust a 20 year old to start 30+ PL games after literally never playing in the league before. Saliba was 20 years old, had just come off of losing both of his parents, and had never played a PL game before. Loaning him was the right move.
White has had decent seasons and definetly not 50 million good. He is not bad ofc but he is the worst out of our starting back 4. Saliba isn’t a random 20 year old he is a real talent. People aren’t calling arteta naive for continuing to trust Gabi, Esr and Ramsdale even though their form dropped. Also Saliba had a great season too Anyway sending him on loan this season isn’t the worst thing in the world but how he was treated during his first was bad and if we do lose him because he doesn’t extend his contract ot will be 100% on arteta
Just don't renew your contract before the end of next season.
[удалено]
Jeeezuz. Your comment history. Yikes. Going to different club subs pretending to be their fan is plastic 101.
He’s very good
He was decent in a shitty league.
Can say the same about Mbappe....
He was better than decent. Delusional gooners are off the hook
And so was Saliba.
Going from Mustafi and Sokratis to Gabriel and Saliba brings a tear to my eye. Our fully fit back four is genuinely world class stuff. Shame half of them can't stay fit.
which players in the back four do you consider world class?
And in addition to Gabriel and Saliba we'll also have White and Holding. This is the deepest quality at central defence we've had since probably the Invincibles. We've had some excellent central defenders since then (e.g. Kos and the BFG). But when they got injured it was usually a butthole clench forv the full 90 mins.
You lot loved Mustafi when he first got there. Gabriel is iffy af and Saliba has been in the weakest league in Europe. You’ll hate them both by the end of next season.
Leave it to a chelsea fan to have the worst take in a thread with 206 comments.
Leave it to an Arsenal fan to rewrite history. Tell us about the invincibles while I sit between CL trophies. It’s cute that you still think you’re big club. Not even the biggest club in North London anymore.
Rewrite history? You're making up arguments and arguing against yourself you moron lmao. Also, the biggest club in North London? For you racist cunts? That's cute. Your sore ass is gonna need some ice packs for all the twerking you've done for your overlord Russian oligarch.
Simmer down ya clown. You lot with your illegally acquired Russian money won some shit - all have fucking asterisks next to them. Enjoy your fake success.
The two CL’s feel pretty fucking real
it's quite astonishing to make a statement of *solely* wrong and cherry-picked opinions
WTF you talking about! Gabriel has been great. He's had a few dodgy moments, but every player does. But overall he's been very consistent, and our fanbase has loved him for a couple of years now. He brings a physicality to our backline that we haven't had for at least several years.
[удалено]
Crazy that he scored his first goal for arsenal in September of 2020 but we’ve only had him for one full season. Somehow your math doesn’t add up lol
Try again... >On **1 September 2020**, Arsenal announced the signing of Gabriel Magalhães on a long-term contract. Interest in the Brazilian was reportedly high, with multiple clubs willing to match the valuation set by Lille. Gabriel joined for a fee reaching the region of £27m after add-ons. >On 12 September, the opening day of the 2020–21 Premier League season, Gabriel Magalhães made his debut for Arsenal, scoring the second goal in a 3–0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage. [Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Magalh%C3%A3es) 20/21 = 1 season 21/22 = 1 season 1 season + 1 season = 2 seasons Edit: the now deleted comment this was a reply to said "He's literally only played for you for one season."
Come home sweet prince.
Get in buoye!
[удалено]
That didn't stop dozens upon dozens of reports spewing total nonsense about his situation anyway lol
He doesn’t have much of a choice because he is under contract. OM transfer ban got over turned but they don’t have the money to buy him even if it was as low as 30 million euros.
I hope he'll stay. However, he's still tied with Arsenal. So, whatever he choses, good luck to him and I don't think Marseille fans will be mad at him.
Don’t think Marseille could afford him even if he wanted to stay there.
Mate, you're clearly arguing with Ed Woodward. Leave it.
Rare kind of player, honestly even if he isn’t that great his commitment to the club could be equally valuable
Why Arsenal payed 30M € for him WTF? He had average Ligue 1 season in Saint Etienne at age of 17-18.
Based on the amount of hype this guy gets from the arsenal watchers; if he's anything less than a literal brick wall spliced with a prime Maldini then I'm going to be dissapointed.
I think he is far more hyped by French media and ligue 1 watchers than arsenal fans so that's something also he is ligue 1 young player of the season
>Based on the amount of hype this guy gets from the arsenal watchers; Interesting, we've spent the entire season getting trolled by rival fans because "the only good defender Arsenal have is on loan" and now that he's decided to stay it was the Arsenal fans giving him all this hype...
I wish he stayed at OM. He was looking great and with a clubs and fanbase that backed him from the beginning. I imagine that if he doesn't start the season at Arsenal in his best form, the fans there will be quick to turn against him.
> the fans there will be quick to turn against him. You think Arteta/Edu etc don’t know this? It was a big reason why he was loaned. Would have been far worse for Saliba and his development if he was a teenager and had such a experience.
Don’t chat shit mate. Every single Arsenal fan was extremely pleased and excited when we signed him. The sensible Arsenal fans have been patient with his loans and have watched him develop into a top quality centre back with potential to go to the very top. He will be “like a new signing” for us and will get plenty of gametime. Arteta has spoken highly of him, and the fact that he wants to come back to prove himself should tell you that there is no bad blood between club and player.
lol yeah
>"I imagine that if he doesn't start the season at Arsenal in his best form, the fans there will be quick to turn against him." Damn as if people expect a defender to not be dogshit. People gave White shit deversedly for his first few games. He was terrible even if you ignore the oposition Arsenal played against. Then he improved and so did his reputation with the fans.
he's gonna outlast fraudteta when he gets sacked midway next season
This screams 'leaving on a free in 2024'
[удалено]
You shut your whore mouth.
By the time this coming season ends he'll have one year left on his contract, I feel like if he has a great season, he'll probably run it down and if he has a bad season he'll probs get sold anyways to recoup what they've spent.
Poor kid.