Two days; that is all it took for the international break to throw up a story to ignite Arsenal supporters into a near-full meltdown about one of their players. We used to be used to this: seeing our best players poached in search of trophies and sometimes just more money.
However, William Saliba plays in an era where that was thought a thing of the past. Players sign new deals at Arsenal in 2024, they don’t up sticks and leave a project half-baked… well, unless your name is Edu Gaspar of course.
The biggest teams in the world sign the best players, but they also lose the best players. Look at Liverpool, who lost Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho; Barcelona with Neymar, or even Manchester City with Leroy Sane and perhaps to a lesser extent Julian Alvarez.
Players leave and they have their reasons, you cannot be beholden to one. But that is a problem Arsenal do have and they have been reminded of it harshly these past few weeks.
The loss of Martin Odegaard to an injury sparked a creative dip that can only be likened to the Marvel films post-Endgame. The Gunners lacked imagination and flair and the doubts have crept into the minds of viewers as a result.
