Watched the game last night and I’m not the types of fan to get carried away by one good performance. Mbappe, Neymar and Messi were not at the races, BUT I’m glad I’m here for the journey of Paolo Virgil Van Saliba.
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But when it does, it’s the best tackle in the world
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Who’s this guy? Looks good. I think we should buy…oh wait!
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Jokes aside, absolutely no idea why this guy’s out on loan when he’s probably our best 3rd centre back. Gabriel and White are good, but apart from that, we’re really stretching imo.
At this point there is no doubt in my mind about Saliba’s talent. He looks to have every attribute a modern defender should have.
I really hope he comes back
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I think he is at least on par with White.
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Many clubs are watching his progression. He’s put himself at the forefront in a big way with OM
No doubt he’s one of the best defenders under 21 right now
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We should hopefully break even on him next summer
I wouldn’t accept anything less than £40-50m for him if we were to cash in. He’s a top tier talent.
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That’s a big ask from our management to be honest, especially as he will only have 2 years left on his contract.
I’d be very very surprised if we get £40+ for him.
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Best possible outcome is that he returns to us and is actually given a chance.
If he wasn’t already an Arsenal player (lol) he seems like the kind of talent we’d struggle to attract. He is building a rep as a defender who only established CL clubs could go after.
The fact we do have him is just crazy. He absolutely has to be brought back here if he’s as good as the reports indicate. That could be hugely overblown ofc - the Saliba agenda on Twitter is absolutely wild.
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I’m guessing we get €20-25m. Absolute dereliction of duty from the club to let Arteta mismanage the situation like this, but it’s already done.
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Yeah it’s a total shit show and a massive mark (of many) against Arteta.
Good thing that White and Gabriel look like a good partnership otherwise it would be even worse.
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Even worse than losing a blue chip CB talent for peanuts and having to go back into the market because we’re one hamstring away from a steady diet of Pablo Mari or (god love him) Rob Holding? Hard to even imagine!
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It was considering we wasted a season on Holding & Mari last season.
That’s what I mean, we could still be using Mari or Holding in the first team haha
I think people aren’t ready to accept that he might actually not be ready and his development is better served elsewhere right now. I don’t think we should have paid £30m for him given the fact he has spent 3 seasons on loan but ultimately we did and now we’re in a position where I think the armchair experts that we are, could do with perhaps accepting that it’s actually better for him to be on loan right now.
He’s obviously a very special CB talent but I’m of the opinion that if you expose a CB to a high pressure environment from a young age and he makes mistakes in the biggest league in the world in front of a huge global audience - that impacts a players mentality. I think his development is better served in France for now and we can evaluate again at seasons end. I’m sure he’s a firm part of the clubs plans in the future and I can see us tying him down this summer when he returns.
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Would White and Gabriel therefore be a massive tick on Arteta then.
Loaning him back for a couple of years was not a bad move at all. He’s a baby in CB years and needs to play as much as possible. Also I’d rather the young defender be making mistakes in Ligue 1 than for us in the Prem and getting his soul crushed by our toxic supporters before the kid is even 20.
He’ll come back to us a more mature and slightly more experienced player. He’ll definitely feature for us, no doubt about it now.
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