William Saliba Will Not Play For Arsenal This Season

There were murmurs around the media that William Saliba can make a surprise appearance for Arsenal this very season.

With Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, Mikel Arteta has an injury concern to address at centre-back.

David Luiz is facing suspension after facing a direct red in the 3-0 Manchester City defeat. That means, Arteta only has Rob Holding and Sokratis Papastathopoulos to choose from in the upcoming games, both of whom are not too popular on the manager’s team sheet.

Saliba’s loan deal with Saint Etienne is due to run out in June as agreed upon last summer. However, with the coronavirus pandemic stretching the regular season longer, it was thought that Saliba would be in contention to appear as soon as he arrives. The Mirror has debunked that rumour, claiming that all Premier League clubs have a “sporting integrity” agreement.

That means, Chelsea won’t be able to field Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech prior to the 2020/21 season. Of course, unusual circumstances are due to be reviewed by the board but Arsenal do not fall in that category. They have two more options in the position with Shkodran Mustafi also available.

Even Konstantinos Mavropanos is scheduled to come in this month after his loan deal ends in Germany. For now, Arteta will have to go with the players available to him.