Arsenal defender William Saliba reveals why he turned down Newcastle United loan move | OneFootball

Arsenal centre-back William Saliba has revealed that he turned down a loan move to Newcastle United in 2021 in favour of Marseille.

The Gunners were hoping a move to St James’ Park would provide the Frenchman with much-needed Premier League experience at the time.

However, Saliba was not keen on joining another English club, opting to return to France for the 2021-22 season.

“They didn’t even tell me to come back during pre-season,” 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 proved crucial to his development, and he hit the ground running upon returning to London.

The Frenchman 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 Steve Bruce as manager before the Saudi Arabian takeover in October.

Eddie Howe was appointed as manager the following month, and guided them to an 11th-place finish in the Premier League.