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Kevin Campbell is predicting that William Saliba could be a starter at Arsenal in the future.

Saliba, 19, was sent out on loan for the second half of this season to French top-flight club Nice, who are sat 11th in Ligue 1.

The Gunners defender has quickly made himself a regular in the Nice XI and even won their player of the month award for January.

He’s a highly-rated centre-back that was bizarrely overlooked at Arsenal in the first half of the season, with manager Mikel Arteta opting against giving him a first-team debut.

The 19-year-old looked extremely talented during the 2019/20 campaign with Saint-Etienne, but he’s having to be patient waiting for his breakthrough in English football.

Campbell, who works as pundit for Sky Sports, reckons that the centre-back position at Arsenal could be wide open for him take in the future.

“Big, strong, quick, he needs to bed himself into the football club, but you don’t invest that money in him without giving him a chance,” Campbell told Highbury Squad.

“We keep saying Gabriel needs a partner, realistically, you’re expecting this young man to come in at some stage and take that spot.

“The key for Arteta was he needs to go out and play football. He’s played football, so when he gets back in the summer you’re expecting him to be in the mix up.”

TBR’s View:

Arsenal completed the signing of Saliba back in the 2019 summer window and sent him straight back to Saint-Etienne for a season-long loan to develop his game.

Most expected him to come straight into Arsenal contention this summer, but that’s now the way manager Mikel Arteta has approached things.

It seems strange that he’s not had a look-in, especially as former teammate Wesley Fofana has impressed at Leicester.

Saliba is doing all he can right now at Nice to enhance his reputation and it’ll be intriguing to see whether or not he’s playing at the Emirates Stadium next season.