Arsenal defender William Saliba has come out and claimed that he has been ‘very average’ over the last month for Olympique Marseille.

The Frenchman joined Arsenal in 2019 but is yet to play a game for us. Mikel Arteta remained adamant at the start of last season that Saliba is not ready for the English game. That was the reason he was loaned back to France.

The youngster has impressed in Marseille’s colours since the start of the season but his performances over the last few weeks have been far from great. He has now admitted that himself.

• Pep Guardiola’s Grealish rant holds good for four Arsenal players too

William Saliba: My performances have been average

The young Arsenal loanee said, as per RMC Sport: “Since February, I’ve been very average. There’s no need to hide.

“I know that I need to work, I’m a young player, but it’s no excuse. I’m going to give everything to get back to my good level.

“We’ve had a difficult month of February. We’ve started March badly, but we’ll soon find the taste of victory again and especially the good style of play we had at the start of the season.”

• Report: Why Arsenal wore red shorts against Watford

Arteta was right, wasn’t he?

Almost every one of Mikel Arteta’s decisions is slowly but surely being proved right.

The Arsenal boss was lambasted by some fans, pundits and the media for loaning Saliba out. Many even wanted the Spaniard gone for his treatment of the young defender at the start of last season.

However, Arteta was absolutely right to loan him out. A full season away at a difficult club like Marseille will really help Saliba. He experienced the highs in the first half of the season which was brilliant, but the lows he’s going through now are arguably even better for his development.

Saliba will surely return a better and more mature player in the summer. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance at Arsenal to show that he’s ready for the Premier League.

• Arteta has finally achieved what he promised in his first-ever Arsenal press conference

The post William Saliba's 'average' comments prove that Arteta was right all along appeared first on Arsenal Insider.