Marseille are reportedly still confident of getting Arsenal’s talented defender William Saliba back on loan from The Gunners.

The Mirror is reporting the French club is confident of resigning Saliba, which will come as a big surprise to many fans as the full France international seems to be very much part of Mikel Arteta’s plans for the forthcoming season.

The defender had a great season on loan with the French club but he wasn’t signed for a big fee of £27m just to help Marseille out.

Sure, he needed more first team experience but a loan is a loan and I think Marseille are dreaming if they think arsenal will send him packing back to the South of France again this season when he seems to be doing so well in Arsenal’s pre season campaign.

Arsenal signed Saliba in 2019 for £27 million on a long-term contract.
Both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur met Saint-price Étienne’s valuation for the player, but Saliba chose to join Arsenal. One nil to the Arsenal!

The club had been interested in Saliba since late 2018, when he was still playing for Saint-Étienne and eventually got their man

I want him to stay as he looks like an excellent talent with great stats from last season in France.

Relationships are imperative in a professional football squad, and as Arsenal gradually remove the players who they feel might be disruptive from their squad, it is important to replace them with professionals who will get along with the other squad members and build strong relationships at the club.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and Technical Director Edu believe that it is better to pay off disruptive and underperforming players than to keep them around the squad.

They are of the opinion that bad influences should be shown the door despite the cost, and players coming in should be investments as well as positive personalities that improve the squad.

This saw the end of Aubamayang and Ozil, who, whilst being absolutely amazing players on their day, sometimes appeared unfocused and distracted by off-field disciplinary issues.

When Arsenal signed Oleksandr Zinchenko I was somewhat underwhelmed until I thought more about the reason behind the singing.

Sure, it could be argued that over £30m for a player who wasn’t a regular first-choice pick for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City could be seen as too big a fee. However, when you look at the player’s attitude, versatility and popularity with his fellow professionals, you can see that he looks set to be a big hit at Arsenal.

His already harmonious relationship with former Man City teammate Gabriel Jesus (who has made an amazing start to his Arsenal career during pre-season) is a good example of an already established positive pairing.

When asked about his relationship with Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko said: “We are close to each other, and I love him so much.

“He’s my big friend, and I would like to say that he was also involved in the discussions (to move to Arsenal).

“He told me a lot of good things about this amazing club and the about this atmosphere, the guys and everyone here, so I’m really impressed and so excited.

Zinchenko added: “I’m always in touch with him even when he was at City and when he left, so I was always speaking with him.”

I think we could see Zinchenko shine should he become a regular starter for The Gunners. He obviously has the talent, the professionalism and the drive to make an impact. Welcome to Arsenal Zincy.

Gonzalo Higuain has revealed just how close he came to leaving Real Madrid for Arsenal nine years ago in a big-money deal.

The Argentinean goal machine also expressed his surprise that the Gunners went on to sign Mesut Ozil, his then teammate at Los Blancos, for a huge 80m euro fee just days after rejecting Higuain.

He made a considerable impression early in his Madrid career, but after falling behind the immensely talented Karim Benzema in the Real hierarchy, Higuain felt he needed a fresh challenge.

The Argentine opened up about his bemusing interaction with Arsenal in a recent interview, even though he finally left Madrid for Napoli and became a huge success in Serie A.

“Before I went to Napoli there was a chance to sign for Arsenal,” Higuain told Marca.

“We had already spoken but they didn’t buy me; they buy Ozil for 80 million or something like that.

“They told me: ‘We don’t have a lot of money to spend. You’re expensive’. From there I went to Napoli. Two days later I see Ozil signs for 80 million euros.”

I think Ozil was a failure at Arsenal and failed to consistently play to his full potential.

Looking at Ozil’s current club situation, he seems to be somewhat of a waste of talent.

On his day he was absolutely world-class, an incredible talent.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Oleksandr Zinchenko (check out some of his highlights at the bottom of this article) is on his way to Arsenal following in the footsteps of striker Gabriel Jesus who signed for the Gunners in a £45m deal on July 4th.

Zinchenko cost City a mere £1.5m in 2016, but Arsenal look like they are paying 20 times that amount for the four-time, Premier League-winning Ukrainian.

Speaking ahead of City’s pre-season match against Club America in Texas Guardiola said: “It was nice with Alex yesterday because we could say goodbye properly.

“Unfortunately with Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus we could not do it because it was the summertime but yesterday we could say goodbye to him, and he will move on to Arsenal.”

“On behalf of the club, I would like to show my gratitude for their effort.

“How they behave on and off the pitch,” said Guardiola.

Guardiola is full of praise for the three stars that he has sold this summer although he couldn’t have liked them that much if he let them go. To Premier League rivals too.

I think Zinchenko is a great signing for Arsenal due to his experience, versatility and winning mentality.

Former Arsenal and Brazil midfielder Gilberto Silva has backed Arsenal to achieve their goals for the 2022/23 season and believes that new Signing Gabriel Jesus will be the catalyst to the Gunners challenge for a Champions League place.

Man City and Liverpool look sure to take the top two places, but the last two Champions League spots look like they will be contested between Arsenal, Spurs, Man United, Chelsea and Newcastle.

The competition will be fierce, but with Jesus and Arsenal’s other new signings in the squad, Gilberto believes he will score goals and help Arsenal achieve their goals.

Gilberto Silva played 170 games for Arsenal between 2002 and 2008, and the midfielder managed a respectable one goal in ten matched return. The Brazilian played 83 times for his country and netted three international goals during a career in which he won the Premier League as well as the FIFA World Cup.

“I’m very happy for him and very happy for Arsenal”, the Brazilian said on Talk Sport.

“I think he’s the kind of player who deserves to be in a club where he has the conditions to play for the whole season.

“I hope he can be one of the main players for the team and bring the club what the club expects from him.

“I think for the club it will be great because he’s a good player and a very good guy and he has already shown from the beginning that what everyone expects from him is to score goals and to help the team achieve what they want.”

It will be such an exciting season, and I think Arsenal will fly under the radar a bit which will take the pressure off Arteta’s squad and give them a real chance at finishing fourth or even third with this better, deeper and larger squad.

I think Jesus will be our saviour (excuse the pun).