Arsenal defender William Saliba insists being snubbed by Mikel Arteta helped to bring him back to reality.
The Frenchman completed a move from Saint-Etienne to the Emirates in the summer of 2019 for fee in the region of £27m.
But fast forward two years and Saliba has still not played a Premier League game for the Gunners after being left out of Arteta’s squads.
That meant he could only play in the Under 23s squad before he was eventually sent out on loan to Saint-Etienne and then a six-month loan to Nice.
Saliba would then leave London again in July 2021, to join Ligue 1 side Marseille for the 2021-2022 season.
His exclusion from Arteta’s plans have left the club’s supporters baffled and it seems his exile also left the player confused.
‘There are hard times,’ Saliba told Eurosport. ‘I hadn’t played a game for six months.
‘You have to fight in a career. We must take that as a lesson to go further. It gave me a little slap to say: “You are nobody!” You can be bought for 30 million euros, arrive in a club and we put you aside.
‘I took this experience by being positive. I feed on it. I know what it’s like not to play for six months. ‘Today, I want to play every game. It puts the ideas back in place.
‘Before arriving at Arsenal, I said to myself: “Who am I going to play with?” And then you are not even in the group in the Premier League.
‘It gives you a good slap, it feels good. It brings you back to the reality.’
Marseille do not have the option to make Saliba’s move permanent at the end of the campaign but for now the player is focused on helping the Ligue 1 club and not his future at Arsenal.
‘I’m on loan,’ he added. ‘But I pretend I’m there for many years. I’m not thinking about returning to Arsenal [right now].
‘I give myself to Marseille. I don’t think about what will happen afterwards.’
