‘You are nobody’ – William Saliba reveals how he dealt with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta’s rejection amid loan transfer
WILLIAM SALIBA says being snubbed by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta helped bring him 'back to reality'.
The 20-year-old was signed for a fee believed to be in the region of £27million back in 2019.
But the highly-rated defender didn't make a single Premier League appearance for the Gunners.
Saliba only had a taste of Under-23s football before being shipped back to France on loan to play for Saint-Etienne and Nice.
In the summer of 2021, he was snubbed of a first-team spot again, and shipped out to Marseille.
But the defender has been playing well this term, leaving some Arsenal fans confused over his absence.
He said: "There are hard times. I hadn’t played a game for six months.
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"You have to fight in a career. We must take that as a lesson to go further. It gave me a little slap to say: 'You are nobody!'
";You can be bought for 30 million euros, arrive in a club and we put you aside.
"I took this experience by being positive. I feed on it. I know what it’s like not to play for six months.
"Today, I want to play every game. It puts the ideas back in place.
"Before arriving at Arsenal, I said to myself: 'Who am I going to play with?'
"And then you are not even in the group in the Premier League.
"It gives you a good slap, it feels good. It brings you back to the reality."
Saliba also said he is not focussed on Arsenal right now, he is more interested in helping loan club Marseille as much as possible first.
And once he has completed another successful season in France, he will 'think about what will happen afterwards'.
He added: "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."
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