William Saliba joined Arsenal in 2019 from French Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne but went on several loan moves before breaking into Mikel Arteta’s starting XI. He has now become one of the best centre-backs in the world, trying to help Arsenal to a Premier League title.
Saliba joined for a fee of £25 million from Saint-Etienne in 2019 when he was just 18 years old, but didn’t make his debut in the Premier League until August 2022.
Since his debut for the Gunners, Arsenal have conceded fewer goals than any other team in the Premier League which means the Frenchman has to be doing something right.
He has developed a strong centre-back partnership with Brazilian Gabriel which it could be argued is the best in the world right now based on Arsenal’s defensive record.
The 23-year-old has made 72 Premier League appearances for the Gunners since joining resulting in 32 clean sheets and 60 goals conceded. Overall in his Arsenal career, Saliba has played 92 games, scoring five goals along the way.
When he first joined the Emirates, Saliba was placed into the U21s side where he made eight appearances before going on loan back to Saint-Etienne and later OGC Nice and Marseille.
William Saliba climbed up the French football system before joining Arsenal
The 23-year-old started his youth career at AS Bondy before moving to Montfermeil JGD in 2014 at just 13 years old. Saliba earned his big move in 2016 when he joined Saint Etienne’s academy aged 15.
He made just one appearance for the U19s before being promoted to the club’s B team where he made two appearances over two months.
It didn’t take long after that for Saliba to earn promotion to Saint-Etienne’s main team in 2018 still aged just 17. He played in 32 games for the club before Arsenal snapped him up in 2019 having seen the potential in Saliba from a young age.
Saliba’s best spell on loan was at Marseille where he helped the team to a second-place finish in Ligue 1 in the 2021/22 season making 52 appearances and winning the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award.
That earned him a spot in France’s 2022 World Cup squad where he made six appearances for the team who made the final but fell to Lionel Messi’s Argentina.
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Three astounding facts about William Saliba
The Frenchman has impressed since joining the Gunners and quickly raised his reputation to be one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League.
He was so good that in his second playing season at the Emirates, Saliba played in every minute of the league campaign for the Gunners, the first outfield player to do so since Lee Dixon in the 1989/90 season.
Saliba began his youth career at AS Bondy where a certain Kylian Mbappe also began his career at the same time. The remarkable thing is that the French defender was coached by Mbappe’s father.
Finally, the defender is known for being as solid as a rock at the back, but it may come as a surprise that Saliba began his footballing journey as a striker in his youth.
He remained a striker until he was picked up by Saint Etienne in 2016.
