Mikel Arteta admits there was 'external pressure' to pick Arsenal player who is now standout performer

Mikel Arteta admitted there was a huge amount of pressure on his shoulders to pick William Saliba for Arsenal – but he's now mightily glad he did.

The centre-back has turned into a fan favourite at the Emirates Stadium and has been one of the rocks on which Arsenal's title challenge this season has been built, alongside Gabriel in central defence.

But for a long time, Saliba was an enigma for Arsenal fans. The club spent £27million on his signature in 2019 and he was highly regarded by many, but he was shipped away on loan to the French league on three occasions – to Saint Etienne, Nice and Marseille.

Fans were calling for Saliba's inclusion at the start of this season and Arteta – who'd previously snubbed the 21-year-old and sent him back out on loan – finally caved in to the pressure. It's paid off handsomely for both player and manager.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Arsenal's clash with Bournemouth this weekend, Arteta said: "I was 100 per cent sure that I was going to have a lot of pressure externally to give him the opportunity.

“Then it was the perfect storm and a beautiful relationship started to build."

Saliba has certainly repaid Arteta's faith this season. He's one of six Gunners players to have featured in every league game so far this season, with his manager explaining how the 21-year-old responded impressively to previous adversity in his Arsenal career.

Arteta added: "I just wanted to see... how he was because then you can understand the real him. How the player is going to reintegrate into our dynamic after being out for so long. Is there some frustration there, something personal between, for example, between me and the player because he could not understand that?

"But those doubts quickly subsided with his determination to prove a point in the best possible way standing out.

"He had an immediate impact... the first two training sessions that we looked at him and thought: ‘There's huge potential here.’

“His attitude, the way he came in and said: ‘I'm going to prove that I'm very good and I deserve to be here’. Without looking back, or being shy – he was doing it the right way.

“He took out every question mark that we could have with him and gave us all the reasons to play him.”