‘We can afford to’: Pundit says Mikel Arteta could get away with dropping £30m Arsenal player

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William Saliba’s absence for Arsenal last season was a real nail in the Gunners’ coffin in terms of the title race.

Indeed, the Frenchman missed the final portion of the season, and the player himself has even admitted that may have cost Arsenal the title last time around.

The Gunners will be hoping to avoid the same scenario playing out this time around, and in order to avoid such a situation, they need to manage Saliba with care.

One way in which Saliba can be managed is if he is rotated, but, then again, taking the Frenchman out of the team causes its own problems as Arsenal are much weaker without Saliba in the side.

However, speaking on the Highbury Squad YouTube channel, Kevin Campbell has claimed that Arsenal could actually get away with resting Saliba in certain games in order to preserve his fitness.

Saliba can be rested

Campbell spoke about the £30m man and his minutes.

“It might help us in the longer term that there’s another international break where he doesn’t play a lot of football. At the end of the day, Saliba is going to want to play, but we can afford to leave him out in certain games, of course we can, I don’t think he will want to, but of course we can,” Campbell said.

Risky

No matter what you say, it’s always risky to leave out one of your very best players at any time.

Yes, Arsenal are good enough to probably get through games without Saliba, but when you’re challenging at the highest level against these near-perfect teams, every single point and every single game matters.

Saliba is almost too good to leave out, and while giving him a rest is a good idea, we can’t say that it’s not a huge gamble to leave him out of the team every now and then.