William Saliba joins french side Nice on loan

The 19-year-old will join Nice on loan for the remainder of the season.

Saliba will return to France in a bid to play first-team football for the first time this season. The deal however will not include an option to buy and Saliba will return to the North London side once the six-month loan deal expires.

Saliba joined the Gunners from Saint-Etienne back in July of 2019 and his deal was worth around $37 million with the teenager sent back to the French side on loan for the 2019-20 season.

However, it did not go to plan for Saliba, playing just 17 matches due to injury and the Covid-19 pandemic before he made the move to the Premier League side.

Despite showing promising signs, the young defender has not been able to break into Mikel Arteta’s side with the Gunners not even registering him for both the Premier League and the Europa League this season.

Arsenal technical director Edu spoke glowingly of the talented 19-year-old.

“William Saliba is a player with a huge amount of talent and potential. We’re confident he will have a great career with us but we must remember that he is still only 19 years old and has a lot of time ahead of him,” Edu said.

“William experienced a very challenging time last year, with his playing time limited by injury and the early ending of the Ligue 1 season due to the pandemic. 

“So together with William, we have decided that spending the rest of the season on loan with Nice is the best way for him to develop. We will be keeping in close contact with William during his time with Nice and look forward to seeing him make good progress until the end of the season.”