Arsenal want to recall William Saliba from his loan to Saint-Etienne in January, if possible, according to one French journalist.

Gilles Favard tweets that Arsenal would like to recall Saliba for the second half of the season. Whether this is actually possible or not is unclear. You’d think if Arsenal are pushing for it then they must believe they have the option to do so though.

Saint-Etienne are obviously going to want to keep Saliba around. He’s one of their star players and they fought so hard to keep him for another season in the summer. Their results are significantly better with the defender in the team too.

Arsenal could make the argument that Saliba would be better off recovering from his injury problems in North London though. As it stands, the defender has only made seven appearances this season.

If Saliba believes the Gunners have better facilities to aid his recovery and Saint-Etienne aren’t getting much out of him anyway, maybe a small fee to recall the player could work for everyone.

For now, I’d say it’s unlikely. Favard isn’t a top-tier source and it’s not hard to guess Arsenal want an extra defender right now. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.