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Arsenal defender William Saliba has been linked with a loan move to Brentford for this season.
Signed as an 18-year old by Unai Emery in the summer of 2019, he was immediately lent back to his parent club Saint-Ėtienne for the whole of last season.
However, injury and the coronavirus pandemic meant that he did not play as much as was hoped, and, although he arrived at the Emirates this summer with a heavy weight of expectations on his shoulders, Mikel Arteta has decided that he is not ready yet for the Premier League, and needs another season on loan to further his development.
He was linked with a deadline day move back to Saint-Ėtienne. But the two clubs ran out of time to conclude the deal in time.
Instead a move to the Championship now beckons, and Bretford, with whom Arsenal have a good relationship, having taken several members of their coaching staff from them, is his most likely destination.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.