William Gallas has some words of advice for William Saliba as he prepares to return to Arsenal.



As he prepares for his first full season with Arsenal, William Saliba is expecting a “step up.”

The Gunners signed the French defender from Saint-Etienne in the summer of 2019, but he has spent the last three seasons on loan and has yet to make a competitive appearance for the north London club.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta revealed in May that the Gunners are preparing to welcome Saliba into their squad for next season as the north Londoners aim to finish in the top four.

Saliba, 21, had a standout season with Marseille last season, appearing in 52 games across all competitions and helping the club finish second in Ligue 1.

The defender made his senior France debut earlier this year and has since earned five caps for his country.

With Saliba seemingly set to return to Arsenal for his first full season in north London, former Gunners defender Gallas has warned the Frenchman that he will face a step up in level at The Emirates.

Speaking in an interview with Metro, Gallas said: “He did well at Marseille. He had a great season with Marseille, but Arsenal and the Premier League is another level.

“I think he has to be patient, I’m sure Mikel Arteta will give him minutes to play and slowly, slowly he will be in the starting XI.

“What is very important for the young players is to be patient because if not you can get upset. If you are upset you don’t train properly, if you play on the weekend you won’t have as good a performance, so you have to be patient and know your time will come.

“When a manager puts you in the starting XI you have to be ready. That is the excuse sometimes for players, if you don’t play well in the starting XI, they can say they didn’t perform because they didn’t play very much. No! You should be ready, at the training ground you have to do more because you never know what could happen at the weekend.

“You could have a situation where maybe at the last moment you have to play, so if you don’t have a good session during the week, how can you be good at the weekend? That’s why you have to be patient.”

Saliba was initially loaned back to Saint-Etienne for the 2019-20 season before being loaned out to Nice the following season.

Last season was a career high for the Frenchman in terms of total appearances, as he played in more than 50 senior games for the first time.