William Saliba has been candid about the uncertainty that marked his early years at Arsenal and how those experiences shaped the player he is today. Arriving as a 19-year-old, Saliba did not immediately break into Mikel Arteta’s plans and spent time with the U23s before a sequence of loans that took him back to France.

“It was a bit hard because I arrived from France, then went back on loan, then six months after I came back here, I went back to France again,” Saliba recalled in an interview with Arsenal’s official website.

“Six months there, then I changed club, then I came back here. So it was difficult. I was living in a hotel when I came here at first, then I found a house but went back to France, so when I came back after that I wanted to settle down quickly.”

Those repeated moves left Saliba questioning his future at the club. “I had some doubts because when you go on loan two or three times, you think maybe it’s not here that I will play,” he candidly admitted. “But it’s like this, in football you have some doubts sometimes, but you have to make sure you forget your doubts and you move forward, and that’s what I did.

“So I went on loan, I kept going to improve. Then I came back here stronger. When I came back I played almost every game. When you have a new career, you have to adapt because you will have some moments where things won’t go how you want. So you have to adapt and of course you have to be strong mentally to be prepared for anything.”

Arteta handed him a starting role at the beginning of the 2022–23 season and Saliba kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 win at Crystal Palace. Since his Premier League debut, made 1,107 days after signing for Arsenal, his rise has been marked by consistent selection and recognition; he won Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year during his loan period and is widely considered one of the best in his position.

Talk of outside interest surfaced as his initial contract neared its end, but Saliba committed his future to the club with a long-term extension in September. “Everything was complete for me,” Saliba shrugged. “We have a good team, we have a good coach, we have good staff. And I’m sure that the future here will be very good, so there was no hesitation to extend my contract with Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal were forced into a risky situation on Saturday when William Saliba remained on the pitch for the full 90 minutes following Ben White’s early withdrawal. With Ben White leaving in the first half there was no way to manage Saliba’s minutes despite the manager’s clear misgivings.

Arteta said: “We had to risk Willy,” Arteta fretted. “It probably wasn’t the best call to play 90 minutes because we were buying tickets for another injury. But we don’t have anybody else. That’s dangerous, for sure.” The comment underlined the strain on Arsenal’s defensive resources.

Saliba’s return lasted far longer than the manager would have preferred, but the centre back appeared to come through the contest unscathed and will not be required to play again for at least seven days as the club have a short respite. The immediate outlook for White is less clear.

The right back pulled up clasping the back of his leg as Wolves launched a rare break led by Hwang Hee-chan after an Arsenal long throw. David Raya had to make a save and White, part of the chasing pack, then went off. Arteta said it “looks like a hamstring” and added: “We don’t know the extent of that.”

On the broader cause, the manager blamed overloading of minutes. “Obviously he hasn’t played a lot of minutes because of the previous knee issue that he had, then the moment he started to get some momentum he had to play a lot because we didn’t have any other solution,” Arteta moaned.

Arsenal’s defensive list already included Gabriel and Cristhian Mosquera, while Riccardo Calafiori was suspended. That leaves Jurriën Timber increasingly relied upon to cover multiple roles; Timber has been useful through the middle but will now be needed at right back until White or Mosquera return to full fitness, which the manager suggested could be well into 2026.

Current squad injury notes list Gabriel out until late December, Cristhian Mosquera out until early January, Ben White out, William Saliba fit but recently returned, Jurriën Timber fit but not 100%, Riccardo Calafiori returning from suspension and Piero Hincapié fit. Myles Lewis-Skelly is also listed as a left back.

Mikel Arteta did not hide his frustration after Arsenal were forced into a tense finish against Wolverhampton Wanderers, conceding a 90th-minute goal after leading thanks to a Sam Johnstone own goal. The manager singled out the team’s temperament and organisation in the closing stages.

“Passive,” “horrible” and frankly “unacceptable” were some of the strong terms Mikel Arteta used to deride Arsenal’s performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday night. Arteta took particular issue with the way his side retreated into a low block, allowing Wolves time to deliver the cross that led to the late equaliser — Mateus Mane’s cross found Tolu Arokodare, who guided the ball past David Raya in the 90th minute.

“We had a period of two or three minutes in deep [block], totally passive with horrible defensive habits,” Arteta seethed. “That’s nowhere near the required level against a team that hasn’t had a single shot. The first time they had the opportunity to do it, they scored a goal.”

Wolves had earlier produced the game’s clearest first-half chance when Hwang Hee-chan led a one-man counterattack and forced Raya into a testing save. Arsenal, by contrast, did not have a single shot on target in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League game for the first time this season.

“We’re relieved because we managed to score a goal at the end and go and win it but we need to improve in that sense [defensively], for sure,” Arteta moaned. “I don’t put it down to ‘yeah, the resilience [is good].’ We should have stopped the source before. That’s on us.”

He defended the principle of defending deep when opponents commit numbers forward but criticised the team’s work rate: “We can defend deep because they commit a lot of players,” he explained. “There is the moment you cannot press them. That’s fine. But the level of activity in that block has to be very different to the one that we had.”

“You have to give credit to Wolves,” Arteta acknowledged. “I knew that wasn’t going to be an easy game but we made it even harder with the manner we conceded the goal. And that’s unacceptable.”

He also highlighted offensive shortcomings: “We had one big chance with [Gabriel] Martinelli two yards out, totally free, and didn’t score,” Arteta told TNT Sports postgame. “But we struggled once we arrived into the danger zones to pick out red shirts in the box. We had many situations like that. And then we didn’t generate many clear chances.”

Eberechi Eze lasted 57 minutes without a shot or a created attempt and registered only one touch inside Wolves’ box. Martin Ødegaard was brought on to replace the summer recruit and didn’t have a great deal more success.