Nigel Winterburn believes Mikel Arteta may already have one of the answers to his problems at centre-back in William Saliba.
The young Frenchman signed for the Gunners last summer, only to be loaned back to St Etienne for the 2019/20 season.
The 18-year-old has since played seven times for the Ligue 1 side, although he has had an injury-hit campaign, with Saliba not featuring for Les Verts since November.
But Winterburn believes he could be a key player for new head coach Mikel Arteta next season, with the Gunners looking to address the defensive issues that have seen them concede 30 goals in 21 games so far this season.
And although Winterburn has delivered a transfer message for Arteta about the defence, he has made a suggestion to the new head coach over what he should do.
"For me, [Mikel] Arteta has got to start bedding in some players that he plans to work with next season, and then in the summer he’ll have a better idea of how many transfer targets he needs," he told Gambling.com .
“That might be difficult though because we have the young lad, William Saliba, out on loan at Saint-Etienne and you would imagine he’d come back and be a part of the first team squad and push for a starting place.
“If we say Arsenal need two new centre-halves, perhaps he’s one of the answers, with another, more developed defender to arrive in the summer maybe.
“That might complicate matters for Arteta as he can’t see Saliba’s progress first-hand, but by all accounts he’s performing well when called upon.”
