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William Saliba has said he will not consider leaving Arsenal until he wins a major trophy and admitted it was time for the players to back up their talk by delivering tangible success.
It was confirmed on Tuesday that the France defender has signed a new five-year contract, despite strong interest from Real Madrid. Saliba has won only the Community Shield with Arsenal since joining in 2019 from Saint-Étienne, spending two and a half of his first three seasons on loan back in Ligue 1 before establishing himself as first choice under Mikel Arteta.
The 24-year-old said he felt confident he would achieve his ambitions with Arsenal and that he had never doubted committing his future despite feeling anger at finishing as Premier League runners-up for three years in a row.
“I cannot leave this club without giving them something back,” Saliba said. “I’ve won nothing so my first choice was to stay here and win everything first. Every year we’re getting better. This year, we had a lot of experiences from the last three seasons. We know that we’re always close, always close. Now we know how the Premier League is. We know how the Champions League is. So we have to stop talking and prove on the pitch that we have to win. Of course, it’s good to talk, but now we have to prove it on the pitch that we are ready to win.
“I’ve been there for three years. Every time at the end of the season you finish second, you’re a bit angry. You want to go on holiday and celebrate with your friends the trophies you won with your club. Of course, when you finish second and you go on holiday, it’s not so good.”
Arteta was full of praise for Saliba, who admitted he had been disappointed by the Arsenal manager’s decision to send him on loan to Nice and then Marseille in his second and third seasons.
“There’s a lot that has happened and a lot that Willy had to get through and the club and myself with him as well to get to the point where he is today,” Arteta said. “That’s the beauty of it, that sometimes things don’t start the way you expect it but sometimes it’s the best thing that can happen to you to get what you want to get.”
Arsenal reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for only the third time last season but lost to the eventual winners, Paris Saint-Germain. On Wednesday at home to Olympiakos they will attempt to build on their victory against Athletic Bilbao in the opening round of matches, although they have lost their past three meetings with the Greek side at the Emirates Stadium.
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Arteta, asked whether their last-gasp win against Newcastle on Sunday could help to build momentum, said: “Great energy – the moment you go in the dressing room everybody is celebrating, especially because of the manner and the way it happened. But you have to move on immediately and you know that we have a very tough match against Olympiakos and I’m ready for it.”
