DBasia.news – Arsenal bought AS Saint-Etienne center back William Saliba, but the 18-year-old was immediately loaned back to Saint-Etienne.
Arsenal bought it for £ 27 million and signed it for five years. Saliba is predicted to be immediately played in Arsenal’s first team this season, considering Laurent Koscielny will leave due to Arsenal’s loss to training and fragile defense last season.
However, Arsenal management has different thoughts. Described by Raul Sanllehi, Arsenal’s Head of Football, Saliba was loaned to hone his mentality because the demands of the Premier League were very high.
“Saliba is different, one of the agreements in his transfer is that he was loaned for a season with his club. We are happy with him because the level of intensity and level of demands in the Premier League is very high,” Sanllehi said, quoted from Mirror.
“He may be too young for that, as I have said, we must protect our young talents. We think that (loaning) will be good for him, being in a league that is not too demanding to continue into the formative period.”
“So, we will have top defenders for a decade. He has seen it as a career path, the perfect solution for him,” Sanllehi added.
In addition to recruiting Saliba from Saint-Etienne, Arsenal also managed to secure Dani Ceballos’s services with a loan scheme from Real Madrid.