William Saliba finally joined Arsenal in the summer of 2020, but, like a lot of things that year, Saliba's introduction to life in London didn't go to plan.
The Frenchman reveals he could have joined sooner than he did as Arsenal wanted to cut short his loan at Saint-Etienne: but Saliba opted to stay put.
"They wanted me to come back in January 2020, I didn’t, I stayed in St Étienne. After that, the fans were really looking forward to my arrival, I certainly didn’t imagine that it would happen like this," he told L'Equipe.
"Aside from that, it is football, I have learned that nothing is certain, you can be there, in your game, and then things can go south. I took a lot of experience from it, at least I will be ready for the future."
Saliba's season was disrupted by a lengthy injury layoff - and then Ligue 1 was suspended altogether in March because of coronavirus. There were expectations that the Frenchman would become an instant starter at Arsenal, only for him to still be waiting for his official debut.
We do hope he comes back in good shape this summer and is ready to go in the Premier League next season. How it went so badly wrong so far is a mystery.
