Puel frustrated by Saint-Etienne’s decision to sell Saliba

Claude Puel has expressed his frustrations at the fact he won’t be managing William Saliba next season.

After being appointed at Saint-Etienne during the early stages of the season, the French club had already agreed a deal to sell the defender to Arsenal.

Speaking to L’Equipe, as cited on Sport Witness, he said:

Rather than buying a ready-made player, I’d rather we buy him to develop him and help him grow. It’s hard to accept that we sell our best player, a young kid, to help fill the coffers. When you have to sell your gems to round up the budget and then do short term deals to fill in the gaps, you’re being reactionary.

Saliba is still with the French club, where he will spend the rest of the season to continue his development.

Read Arsenal verdict

Arsenal will be feeling thankful that Puel was not appointed earlier in France.

Espically considering the promising start he has made with Saint-Etienne, he may have done more to try and keep him at the club permanently.

Puel’s comments are a testament to the calibre of player that Arsenal will be getting their hands on next season.

Widely regarded as one of Saint-Etienne’s best players this season, Saliba has averaged just below two tackles a game in Ligue 1 after four matches, while also averaging 0.3 fouls per 90 minutes domestically.