OGC Nice manager Adrian Ursea has revealed why he has signed Arsenal defender William Saliba.
Saliba returned to France on a loan deal until the end of the season on Monday having struggled for first-team opportunities at Arsenal.
The young defender joined the Gunners in a £27million deal in 2019 and initially spent time back with Saint-Etienne on loan, but he returned ahead of this season.
Though, Saliba has not made any first-team appearances since and he has now returned to France on loan in a bid to gain more first-team experience.
Speaking after the defender's arrival, Nice boss Ursea told OGC Nice TV: "He can bring us a lot of things, on the defensive side and in terms of our playing style and initiating moves.
"He can also be very precious to us in set pieces, an area where we have suffered a lot, even though that has been a little less the case in recent matches, which is perhaps due to our changes in terms of the organisation.
"His arrival will create movement in our defence. We lost Dante, we are still waiting for the leaders to show themselves.
"William is a player with a lot of personality, a personality that didn’t waste any time in revealing himself.
"With what he showed before leaving for England, honestly, talk about his age, I don’t even take that into account. Either a player is good or not, that is what interests me. It is not easy to succeed in Saint-Etienne’s defence, no matter your age."
Arsenal technical director Edu also had his say on the move after it was confirmed, telling the club website: "He is a player with a huge amount of talent and potential
"We’re confident he will have a great career with us but we must remember that he is still only 19 years old and has a lot of time ahead of him.
"William experienced a very challenging time last year, with his playing time limited by injury and the early ending of the Ligue 1 season due to the pandemic.
"So together with William, we have decided that spending the rest of the season on loan with Nice is the best way for him to develop.
"We will be keeping in close contact with William during his time with Nice and look forward to seeing him make good progress until the end of the season."
