William Saliba has opened up on life at Arsenal, admitting it's a "dream" to play for the north Londoners.
The Gunners acquired the French centre-back's services from Saint-Etienne last summer but immediately loaned him back to the Ligue 1 side.
Upon his return, Saliba was expected to be immediately thrown into the heart of Arsenal's defence.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, however, has opted against putting the 19-year-old in the firing line.
In fact, the Spaniard has yet to hand the France Under-20 international a single appearance this campaign.
Despite not having taken to the pitch this season, Saliba is enjoying life as an Arsenal player and learning under the tutelage of Arteta.
"It is a big dream [to play for Arsenal]," Saliba said in an interview with Ian Wright. "It was a big dream becoming a reality for me.
"[Mikel Arteta] is very positive. Sometimes he would send me a message when I was at Saint-Etienne. So it’s good."
Saliba's enjoyment of his time at the Emirates partly stems from the relationship he's struck up with French speakers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
He added: "Yes it’s very good because I don’t speak good English at the moment. When I don’t understand something, Auba, Laca and the coach help me."
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta recently shed light on his decision not to blood Saliba into the first team, saying: “I think William is doing really well. He is adapting to the country, adapting to our club.
“We have to bear in mind that he had a really challenging season last year with the amount of injuries that he had.
“But he is a player that is going to be really important in our future, things sometimes take some time and we have to respect that.”
