Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta reacts to William Saliba reports

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Mikel Arteta has seemingly admitted that William Saliba is fed up with his current situation at Arsenal, but suggested that he is not yet sure whether the defender will leave on loan during the January transfer window, in comments reported by Football London.

It has been a frustrating start to life in North London for Saliba. He appeared to be making a big impression with some good performances in pre-season. However, he is still yet to make his debut for the club.

And that has led to reports concerning how happy he is at the Emirates. French outlet ButFootballClub reported this week that Saliba is fed up at Arsenal. And it also claimed that he wanted to return to St Etienne on loan when the window opens.

Arteta appears to have confirmed that the youngster is not entirely happy right now. And he did suggest that a few options may be on the table for the time-being.

“Yeah, fed up with the situation because as you could see, we tried to find a way in the last few days [of the transfer window] to give him some football,” he said, as reported by Football London, when asked if he was fed up.

“I explained that he needed that transition year when we decided to buy him and send him on loan to Saint-Etienne. For many reasons, that didn’t happen and he didn’t have that transition year. He needs to go through that and at the moment, with the amount of central defenders that we have in the team, we had to let him out of the squad which is painful.”

“I don’t know,” he added, when asked if he could be loaned out. “We will review the situation in the next few weeks and sit down with him as well and see what is the best thing to do. But it will depend on him and other players’ situations as well.”

There is still plenty of time for Saliba’s situation to turn around. Arteta’s men have nine Premier League games ahead before the turn of the year.

He is not in the Europa League squad. But as long as he stays fit, he could be in contention for a chance in the top flight.

And if he does get one chance and makes the most of it, then perhaps any suggestion that he could leave on loan will swiftly find itself off the table.