William Saliba has been voted OGC Nice’s Player of the Month for January, making a strong start to his loan spell back in France.

OGC Nice announced the results of their January Player of the Month award on Saturday, with William Saliba earning 44% of the vote.

The club wrote that Saliba has quickly brought what they bought him for, defending “with rigour and serenity”. They add that even though results haven’t gone their way so far, Saliba is one of those giving them the foundations to build on.

Saliba has made six appearances for Nice so far, and it’s true that the scorelines haven’t exactly been in their favour. They’ve lost four, drawn one and won just one of those matches, although they did keep a clean sheet in that one win.

Still, you could see from the first game against Stade Brest that Nice’s defensive problems extended far beyond what Saliba could directly impact himself. In that first match, one of his teammates passed the ball straight to the opposition striker to score.

As long as Saliba is having a positive impact on an individual basis, playing regularly and staying fit, Arsenal fans can only be pleased with how the loan is going so far. It’s up to the Nice supporters to worry about the rest of the team.