This is one of the 11 shots Pablo Longoria has made this season – and not the least. William Saliba joined loon this summer, as part of a loan from Arsenal. This in the wake of another cession limited in time granted to l’OGC Nice by the Gunners last season. Debauched by Londoners in 2019, then loaned for a year to his training club AS Saint-Etienne, the international tricolor defender among young people matures slowly but surely.

His first steps among the Phocaeans attest to this: tall and powerful, Saliba is nonetheless lively and mobile, intelligent in his placement. At 20, the native of Paris is steeped in qualities and promises, Jorge Sampaoli is not mistaken and has already erected him to the rank of essential within his rearguard, like his Brazilian protégé Luan Peres. Leonardo Balerdi and Alvaro Gonzalez are currently sharing the role of third axial.

Olympique de Marseille will not have a say

If the coach of the Olympians was quick to estimate the value of the person concerned, Arsenal does not neglect it either. The Gunners were careful not to match the loan of their young defender with a purchase option – so Olympique de Marseille will have virtually no rights to their control tower next spring. Journalist Chris Wheatley, a specialist in club news at the gun, ensures that discussions are already scheduled to further extend the lease that currently binds William Saliba to Arsenal. Beyond 2024, therefore. A sign of confidence that never deceives.

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