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William Saliba's Arsenal career is poised to finally get underway next season after Mikel Arteta stated the defender "has to come back" following a successful loan spell with Marseille.

It's coming up to three years since the Frenchman joined the Gunners for a reported £27m fee. However, somewhat surprisingly, he's yet to make a first-team appearance for the club having been loaned out to Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille in successive seasons to gain more experience.

The latest loan spell was Saliba's strongest. He helped Marseille qualify for the Champions League, reach the semi-final of the Europa Conference League and his form earned him a first call-up to the senior France squad and he's very much in contention for a World Cup place provided he stays fit.

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If the Ligue 1 outfit's president Pablo Longoria gets his way then 20-year-old would be returning to the Stade Velodrome in the summer transfer window, but Arteta has communicated his decision and all signs are pointing towards Saliba getting a chance at Arsenal next season.

"He has to come back," Arteta told RMC Sport. "He has the experience and has been in the necessary environment in order to be competitive with us. If he had stayed with us this year, where we had one Premier League game every week, with Ben White and Gabriel, he wouldn’t have had half the playing time he had with