Arsenal’s William Saliba reveals the ‘turning point’ in his career

William Saliba (23) is now flourishing at club level and at international level. It hasn’t been easy. It took him years to work his way into the Arsenal team, and even longer to find a starting spot in the France set-up.

For the first time in his career, Saliba started for Les Bleus in an international tournament, partnering Dayot Upamecano at the heart of the defence as France beat Austria 1-0 in their Euro 2024 opener. The Arsenal centre-back convinced and didn’t give Didier Deschamps to change anything ahead of their second game, against the Netherlands on Friday.

It wasn’t an easy journey for Saliba, who even incited the criticism of Deschamps earlier this year, the France manager stating that the centre-back did “things” he “did not like so much”. However, the perception of Saliba in England and France is starting to converge.

Saliba is well-regarded in England due to his exploits with Arsenal over the course of the past two seasons. However, as it has been at international level, it was difficult at club level too. He was deemed not ready by Mikel Arteta and sent out on loan to OGC Nice and then Olympique de Marseille before imposing himself at the Emirates stadium.

He views his loan move at the latter as the “turning point” of his career, as he told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday. “The biggest turning point in my career was the loan at Marseille. It was decisive and allowed me to test myself,” said Saliba. His time for the Vélodrome certainly laid the foundations for his future success.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle