Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has taken a rather surprising approach with William Saliba this season.
The 19-year-old joined the Gunners in the summer of 2019 from Saint-Etienne but was immediately loaned back to the Ligue 1 outfit in order to continue his development.
However, Saliba's 2019/20 campaign was disrupted.
He missed the start of the season after undergoing surgery on an adductor muscle injury which kept him out of action for six weeks - and in that time he returned to London Colney for treatment.
And just a month after returning to action, disaster struck for the teenager during a 1-0 win over AS Monaco as he suffered a crack of the fifth metatarsal.
That turned out to be Saliba's final appearance of 2019, but there was to be another setback in April 2020 when The French Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, confirmed the remainder of the Ligue 1 season had been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, Saliba's campaign ended with him making just 17 appearances across all competitions - and Arteta has revealed the teenager didn't have the transition year that the club expected.
"As I explained, the difficult year the player had and the plan we had for him for the transition year, we could not achieve," the Gunners boss said.
"We are looking at different options to try to have the best possible development and to protect our intentions with William for the future."
One of those options included another loan spell, amid talk of a return to Saint-Etienne.
Yet the summer transfer window closed with Saliba staying, but he's not been registered in the Europa League squad, nor has he made his competitive debut for Arsenal as per Arteta's decision.
Recent reports have claimed that Saliba is unhappy with his situation at Arsenal, while Arteta admitted last week that he was fed up.
But it would appear that the youngster is just getting on with things judging by his first social media post in four months.
Taking to Instagram, the centre-back somewhat broke his silence after playing 90 minutes for the Arsenal U21's in their Papa John's Trophy penalty shootout win over Gillingham on Tuesday evening.
Although, it wasn't to address anything Arsenal related has he wished his former teammate Denis Bouanga a happy birthday.
Amid Arteta's admission that Saliba is getting "better and better", the defender caught the eye of many Arsenal supporters on Tuesday evening with a forward pass which eventually leads to Catalin Cirjan taking advantage of a defensive mistake to score from close range against Gillingham.
It remains to be seen when the defender will be given a chance in the first-team as Arteta's centre-back options are set to increase following Calum Chambers' return to action in the same game.
