William Saliba isn’t just the best defender at Arsenal, but one of the best in Europe.
There will be some who will argue that the recent Premier League season proves that he is probably the best in England’s top flight now.
A certain Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool would have something to say about that, but Arsenal’s Frenchman at the back is certainly the future.
Yes, Arsenal didn’t win the Premier League title, but they still had the best defence with only 29 goals conceded, with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes regulars at the heart of their defence.
Ahead of Euro 2024, you would think France, who reached the 2022 Qatar World Cup final and won the previous edition, would be big favourites for the competition.
Not only do they have Real Madrid’s new superstar Kylian Mbappe up top, but they also have a man like Saliba at the back.
But what’s amazing is that Saliba can’t even get into Didier Deschamps’ XI and isn’t guaranteed to start for France this summer at the European Championships.
Gary Lineker has questioned why Saliba is struggling on the international stage and has been left baffled by Deschamps’ comments about the player.
The France manager has suggested that ‘there are stuff with Saliba’s game I don’t like’, but Lineker just can’t understand what that can be, as he told Match of the Day Top 10.
The former striker joked that it’s probably the fact that he doesn’t score enough goals because he can’t find a true answer.
William Saliba for France ahead of Euro 2024
“Saliba, the manager doesn’t really like him, does he,” stated Lineker. “He said there are stuff with his game that I don’t like.
“What is that? I wonder what that is. His lack of goalscoring ability?” joked the presenter. “He doesn’t dribble past four or five players. I don’t know. I wonder what that is.
“It’s funny. Every manager has a little something about some player that perhaps we don’t see.”
Can William Saliba prove Didier Deschamps wrong?
This is Saliba’s chance to shut up any worries his national manager has.
At the end of the day, Arsenal fans will be thinking that Deschamps is barking up the wrong tree, but at the end of the day, he did win the World Cup in 2018 and he can do what he wants now.
This is where Saliba can add another layer to his game because if he can prove his worth for France, then it will really showcase the strong character he has.
Otherwise, it’s going to prove to be a dark cloud over a career that is looking very promising.
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