‘He has a lot of quality to play at Arsenal’ – Gunners loanee praised by current teammate

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Former Arsenal defender and Saint-Etienne ace Mathieu Debuchy has backed William Saliba to be a success at the Emirates.

As noted by BBC Sport, the Gunners snapped up the 18-year-old last summer for £27m, but loaned him back out to Saint-Etienne this season to continue to play regularly and develop his game.

SEE MORE: Arsenal keen to secure deal for £15m+ rated teenager early this summer

Those hopes were dealt a blow earlier in the campaign as he suffered an injury setback, but it appears as though his recovery and return has been a success.

Saliba has now made nine appearances for the Ligue 1 outfit so far this season, and it appears as though he has impressed Debuchy who has praised him and tipped his teammate to go on and be a success at Arsenal.

“He’s a great player. I’m so happy for him to play next season for a big club like Arsenal,” he is quoted as saying by The Mirror. “He improves every game and I think he is a great player. He’s strong with good technique. He’s quick.

“I think he has a lot of quality to play at Arsenal.”

The report goes on to add that Yohan Cabaye has echoed those sentiments, and so it will be reassuring and exciting for Arsenal fans to hear that Saliba is making such a positive impression ahead of his switch to north London this summer.

Much like last season, Arsenal are still struggling defensively as they’ve conceded 34 goals in 25 Premier League games thus far, giving them the joint second worst defensive record of the top 10 sides in the standings.

Mikel Arteta will surely be aware of that being a weakness that they must address in the long-term to compete at the top level again, and although they signed Pablo Mari on loan with an option to buy in January, as per BBC Sport, they could be looking to Saliba to come in and shore up that porous backline from next season onwards.

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