Arsenal will be desperate to keep William Saliba for the long haul
William Saliba has expressed his commitment to Arsenal and firmly believes the Gunners can snatch the top spot from Liverpool in the Premier League.
The French defender, a key figure in Mikel Arteta’s transformation of the side, was instrumental in the 2-0 win over Manchester United on Wednesday, with his solid performance underpinning how vital he is to the Gunners.
Amid speculation linking him with Real Madrid, Saliba told The Mirror: “Yeah of course, I feel at home.
“I signed for the club five years ago but it’s only my third season and I’m enjoying everything – the players, the staff and the fans, so why not?”
His goal against the Red Devils helped closed the gap at the top of the Premier League to seven points – igniting Gunners’ hopes as Saliba optimistically pointed out: “Everything is possible.
“The season is very long and we’ve experienced that in the past two years. We just have to focus on ourselves, we are still only in December so there are still a lot of things that can happen.”
Speaking during an uplifting visit to Ashmount Primary School in Islington with keeper Neto, the towering centre-back also expressed his honour at playing for a club at the heart of the local community.
The French star, who not only played football with the pupils but also took questions and joined a reading class at the school, said: “We’re so happy to be involved in this type of project. We know that when you love football, you want to see and meet football players like us.
“I never had the chance when I was younger, so it’s good to give back to the kids and be connected with our local community. Their support is a huge inspiration for us, we take it with us every time we go onto the pitch.
“We’ve all been in their place when we were young and from day one here, I could see we do a lot of things in the community for the kids.”
Saliba’s stellar partmership with Gabriel Magalhaes has earned huge plaudits. To solidify their standing, the Frenchman insists that seizing trophies is vital.
Speaking fondly of his team-mate Gabriel, he said, “Since the day I first played with him, I’ve enjoyed every game. He’s a massive, massive defender that is so good in every aspect.
“But if we want to be all-time great defenders, where everyone remembers us, we have to win some trophies. We haven’t done it yet but we will give everything to achieve that.”
After praising Arsenal’s scintillating attacking form post-international break, with a tally of 15 goals across four consecutive wins, Saliba is now looking to consolidate the team’s defensive efforts. He admitted: “Since we’ve been back, we’ve been playing better football and we have to keep going.
“We’re so happy to be scoring goals but we concede a lot of goals, as well. “It’s not good enough, especially last weekend [against West Ham] when we were winning 4-0, we didn’t have to concede two goals just after.
“I think we have to do much better defensively. We experienced a tough moment but Mikel helped us through and gave us confidence.”
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1985687/Arsenal-William-Saliba-transfer-news