Arsenal fans have been left fairly puzzled by the club’s pursuit of Brighton defender Ben White.
We exclusively revealed that Mikel Arteta is a big admirer of the centre-half, who was recently called up to England’s Euro 2020 squad, and is planning on making a move for him this summer.
The Gunners will face stiff competition from the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United for the 23-year-old’s signature who is valued at between £40m and £50m.
White’s ability is not in question by the Emirates faithful, but supporters are not convinced they need another centre-back with Gabriel, Pablo Mari, Calum Chambers, Rob Holding and William Saliba at the club.
But it’s Saliba who they are specifically concerned with after Arsenal signed the youngster from Saint-Etienne in the summer of 2019 for a £28m fee.
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The 20-year-old immediately returned to the French club on loan before spending another short-term spell with Nice last season as the Frenchman is yet to make an appearance for Arsenal.
Saliba impressed with the Ligue 1 club and fans were excited for him to return to North London for the new campaign and were hopeful he would be a part of Arteta’s plans.
But his future has been thrown in doubt as the club target a move for White during the window.
And Arteta’s comments about his future last month now speak volumes as he refused to say whether Saliba would have a part to play next season with the Gunners.
He said: “You will see in the summer, the possible replacement.
“William is our player for sure and that’s the decision we’re going to be taking soon.
“When we finish the season we will sit down and discuss the roles of every member in our squad and how they can fulfil that role.
“He is our player so he’ll be back here for sure. After that, we will make a decision based on an agreement of the role each player is going to have in our squad.”
Arteta revealed that he has regrets over the way Saliba’s development was handled after the Frenchman was forced to play with the Under-23s when a second loan move to Saint-Etienne fell through in the summer, before he would eventually join Nice.
He added: “We had eight central defenders which is unheard of, but we didn’t find the right moment or the right club or the right agreement to do that.
“In my opinion we could have used those four or five months in a better way. We tried to maximise that when we tried to keep him here until December. Now he’s had a run of games that he needed after the difficult year that he had the previous season.
“We still have great people doing that. Ben Knapper [Loans Manager] is always in contact with him, he’s the one creating every assessment. As coaching staff we are obviously following his progression, watching his games and in contact with him.”
