Despite all the Hale End academy alumni in the current squad, it sometimes seems like the biggest Arsenal fan among these players is from the north-eastern suburbs of Paris.
William Saliba exudes calm on the ball and in defence, but tends to be the one player whose emotions get the better of him when a team-mate scores. He was front and centre in Arsenal’s Premier League title celebrations earlier in the week, but 36 hours later, his composure was back — along with a dash of desire that is evident whenever the France international talks to the media.
“I am not full,” he told reporters. “We have started with the Premier League, it is my first one, so I am happy, but I want more. There is a big chance next week in the Champions League, so we have to give everything.”
Being that open about his ambitions is nothing new for Saliba. Real Madrid held interest in him for years, but after committing his future to Arsenal with a new contract in September, the 25-year-old spoke of a feeling that he was yet to leave a mark in north London. He had been a staple of manager Mikel Arteta’s side for four years, but the lack of a Premier League title was eating at him.
After years of seeing their best players poached by rival clubs, Saliba’s determination to stay and win with Arsenal was a sign of how times have changed.
As he grew up as an Arsenal supporter in France, Saliba will be more than aware of that change for the club, but he has been on quite a ride himself.
The defender was initially signed at age 18 from Saint-Etienne in summer 2019, when Unai Emery was in charge. He returned to Saint-Etienne on loan for that first season. When he got back to north London in 2020, there was a new man at the helm, and the club were in disarray. Saliba took time to convince Arteta — he was sent back to Ligue 1 on further loans to Nice and Marseille — before the Spaniard saw something click between the Frenchman and centre-back partner Gabriel in the pre-season of 2022.
Saliba has formed an excellent partnership with Gabriel (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
“It has been a long journey, up and down, but now I am so happy,” Saliba said of that time. “I was not always happy when I was on loan and not playing, but it is part of the process. I kept working hard, and I believed I could make it, and for four years I have started for Arsenal, and I finished the season with a Premier League (title), and we have something even bigger next week.”
That partnership with Gabriel officially began at the stadium where Arsenal will lift the Premier League trophy this weekend: Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park.
Saliba was named player of the match on that sunny south London evening in August 2022, and since then, his pairing with Gabriel has been a core foundation to Arsenal becoming title contenders (and now winners). This season alone, they have started 26 games together, keeping 15 clean sheets. That translates to a rate of one every 1.7 matches.
When it comes to centre-back partnerships, a key figure who is leaving Arsenal at the end of this season has recognised the greatness of Saliba and Gabriel.
Former Arsenal defender turned academy manager Per Mertesacker was half of an impressive pairing himself with Laurent Koscielny, as they went on a run of 31 Premier League matches completed together without losing between January 2012 and February 2014.
Mertesacker, a World Cup winner with Germany in 2014, told The Athletic in December: “Laurent and I were a real partnership. It was kind of a blind understanding, and I see similar traits with these two. Someone goes out, the other covers. But also, they have super-strengths. William, with his calmness on the ball, it doesn’t get any better. And then you have Gabriel’s determination in both boxes. They both have the full picture, and then super-strengths.
“(Laurent) was really quick and while I was slower, I organised and read the game more than him. With the current centre-back pairing, they have so much in common in terms of how quick and strong they are, as well as how they complement each other.
“Centre-back partnerships, along with the goalkeeper and No 6, are critical for any successful team, so it’s a joy to watch.”
Arteta once called Saliba and Gabriel’s partnership “a happy marriage”, and with Premier League winners’ medals about to be received, their place in conversations among great centre-back partnerships in the league will no longer need caveats.
Saliba would not have signed a new contract in September if he did not believe he could win with Arsenal, but that did not mean he got ahead of himself during the season. Arsenal went top in October, but the real belief that this season would be different to the three successive second-placed finishes came much later.
“I started to feel we could do it in March,” he admitted. “After the game against Everton (on March 14), it was clear to me that we would win the league. It was a hard game, and we knew that we would not play in the Premier League until after the international break, so that win was so important.
“It was a tough game, and afterwards, City dropped points against West Ham, so it was a good day for us (Arsenal went nine points clear). When we came back from the national team, it was a bit hard. But we kept going, we believed in ourselves, even after the loss against City. And now we are champions.”
Saliba knows the job is not finished, though.
Arteta and Saliba have won the Premier League together (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal and Palace will be thankful that their final-day clash tomorrow does not need to be a high-stakes affair, as they both have European finals to prepare for. Of all people associated with Arsenal apart from Arteta, who played for Paris Saint-Germain, the Champions League final may be most special for Saliba.
He is the only Frenchman in the Arsenal squad, and the suburb where he grew up, Bondy, is only an hour away from PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium. He will be tasked with defending against his France World Cup team-mates Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Desire Doue and Warren Zaire-Emery too.
But with Arsenal keeping 32 clean sheets across all competitions this season and conceding just six goals in the Champions League (fewer than any other team), Saliba feels confident.
“We have the best defence this season,” he said. “When you are the best, you want to play the best, so we are so happy to have attackers like this to play against us next Saturday, and I hope we will win that battle.
“It is normal that they (PSG) are the favourites, because they won the Champions League last season, and now they are in the final again. We have to fight, and if we want to change that, we need to win.”
