Mikael Silvestre has advised manager Mikel Arteta to send William Saliba back out on loan next season as he is not ready to play at the highest level.
Saliba, 21, was signed by the Gunners from St Etienne back in 2019, but he has not yet played a game for the club, having spent most of his time on-loan in France.
Last summer, the centre-back joined Marseille for the current campaign and has been a mainstay in the Ligue 1 side’s defence this season with 33 appearances, putting the Frenchman in the frame for a place in Arteta’s squad next term.
However, Silvestre, who had abetween 2008 and 2010, believes Saliba still needs further improvement and will not develop if he is sitting on the Arsenal bench.
Speaking to , he said: ‘If you look at Gabriel and Ben White, I think that should be the partnership for next season. If Saliba comes in, he will be a back-up.
‘He is still young and I would be tempted to give him another year on loan so he can become even more consistent. He has improved on this loan, but there have been some games where he wasn’t at his best level.
‘To develop and to become a big part of Arsenal for the future, if you put him on the bench after playing a full season for Marseille, that would be a backwards step in his development. They have to make a big decision on his future.’
It is likely Saliba would be fourth in the pecking order behind Ben White, Gabriel and Rob Holding if he was to stay at Arsenal next season.
Last year, Saliba revealed his frustrations at not being able to break through to the first-team squad at Arsenal and has been recently linked with Atletico Madrid.
Speaking earlier this month, Arteta acknowledged that Saliba was performing well in France, with the youngster having played a significant part in Marseille’s run to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League this season.
He said: ‘Well, first of all, we made together the decision for him to go on loan. And now he is getting those chances in a really competitive league and he is doing really well.’
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