It has been almost a year since William Saliba no longer wore the green jersey. His last exploit with his training club was this half final of the Coupe de France against Rennes where he was behind the victorious goal of Ryad Boudebouz, after a ride worthy of Oswaldo Piazza. Biggest transfer in the history of ASSE before being overtaken by Wesley Fofana, the native of Bondy, transferred for € 29 million to Arsenal in the summer of 2019, was then deprived of the final at the Stade de France, he who had already missed a first meeting in Saint-Denis during the Gambardella Cup final won by ASSE a year earlier against Toulouse (2-0).
A rise hampered by injuries and Arsenal
In full family mourning, the young defender, who had the pain of losing his mother, had inevitably badly lived this episode, this refusal of Arsenal to release him for a final match with his training club. Three months later, he also had a hard time with the failure of negotiations with ASSE for a new loan. An administrative problem, linked to the slowness of the London leaders (according to their Saint Etienne counterparts) had derailed the affair by a few minutes during the last day of the summer Mercato, on October 2. Saliba was however ready to lower his salary to ease his delay. In vain. He was off for the first part of the season with the U23 Arsenal, snubbed by Mikel Arteta despite a catastrophic fall. His name was not even put on the UEFA list by the Spanish coach. Left behind after a last season disrupted by injuries, Saliba (19) had preferred to wait for the winter Mercato rather than joining Brendford or Norwich in the Championship, the English L2. A return to ASSE was again being considered. But while Norwich, Brighton and PSV Eindhoven also requested it, it was towards Nice that the former Stéphanois chose to revive.
A mixed start with Nice
“Nice was my favorite choice,” he explained on arrival. It’s a club that I like, which plays at the top of the table and which has ambition. There is a good style of play with possession. Saint-Etienne is my home. It’s a comfort zone. I just wanted to get out of my comfort zone and come to Nice. It was the best choice. ” In Nice, the U20 international joined a struggling team, which had just been taken over by Adrien Ursea after the dismissal of Patrick Vieira. Installed as the boss of the defense of the Aiglons, in the three system set up by Ursea, Saliba has the difficult task of replacing the Brazilian Dante, out for the season after having crossed paths. For his debut, in Brest (0-2), warned from the start, Saliba suffered from his lack of rhythm. He was then elected best Nice of the game in Metz (1-1), before sinking with the ship facing Bordeaux (0-3), for his reunion with Jean-Louis Gasset. “This defeat hurt us. Now we will try to speak in the field with good results, and stop saying “we must, we must”. We are in a bad spiral and to get out of a bad spiral you have to win quickly, very very quickly, ”Saliba explained at Téléfoot after this heavy setback. In this shipwreck, the defender had still been spared from criticism, the Nice supporters still designating him as the best eagle of the meeting, with Walter Benitez. And since then, there has been an important victory won last weekend in Lens (1-0), thanks to Youcef Atal, with again a good Saliba in defense. A Saliba who at the time of finding ASSE this Sunday at the Allianz Riviera should not be the least motivated of the Aiglons