Arsenal centre-back William Saliba has revealed that he turned down a loan move to Newcastle United in the summer of 2021 in favour for Marseille. Newcastle were under Steve Bruce at the time and the Gunners were hoping a move to the St James’ Park club would provide the Frenchman with much-needed Premier League experience at the time. However, Saliba was not keen on joining the Toons or any other English club, opting to return to France for the 2021-22 season.
“They didn’t even tell me to come back during preseason,” he told L’Equipe.
“They told me to find a club on loan. Arsenal wanted me to go to Newcastle or Crystal Palace, but I didn’t want to. I remember that summer, it was either Lille or Marseille. I was very close to going to Lille, but there was a financial problem.”
Saliba had spent the second half of 2020-21 on loan with OGC Nice after failing to break into the Arsenal first-team following his return from a loan spell with Saint-Etienne in 2019-20. Moving to Marseille in 2021-22 proved crucial to his development, and he hit the ground running upon returning to the North London club. He has since established himself as a key player for club and country, winning the Premier League title with Arsenal last term after three seasons as runners-up.
Nobody knows what could have happened had he joined Newcastle on loan, but the 2021-22 campaign started with Bruce as manager before the takeover in October.
The arrival of the Saudis saw Eddie Howe appointed as manager the following month, leading to an 11th-place finish in the Premier League.
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