Mikel Arteta has said that William Saliba "needs to adapt" for the Premier League following his Arsenal debut.
The Frenchman signed for the Gunners last summer but was immediately loaned back to Saint Etienne.
But Arteta is now looking to embed the highly-rated centre-back into his Arsenal set up and handed him his debut in a pre-season friendly against MK Dons.
The north London outfit ran out 4-1 winners with Mohamed Elneny, Eddie Nketiah, Mark McGuinness and Reiss Nelson all getting on the scoresheet.
And the Arsenal boss commented on his new arrival who has impressed on and off the pitch whilst learning about the demands of English football.
"He’s been training really hard," said Arteta. "He stayed here in London to do a better preparation and you can tell that he looks ready.
"Obviously there are a lot of things that are new for him and he will need to adapt.
"But certainly he has the right qualities for this football club as well the right attitude to keep improving and showing the player he can be for our future."
Saliba could soon be joined in the Arsenal defence by Lille defender Gabriel who is closing in on a switch to the Emirates.
The Gunners defence has been a problem for sometime and Arteta has sought to address those issues.
He is confident the deal will get done but confessed it is never simple.
“Regarding Gabriel we can’t announce anything yet, the deal is not finalised,” Arteta added.
“You all know that he is a player that we follow for a long time and hopefully we can get it done.
“Everything is OK when both parties sign, the club and the player agrees the terms and he goes through the medical.
"Sometimes that in the last final stages is not as easy as it looks, but again we are pretty positive that we can do it.
