Didier Deschamps has praised William Saliba for the defender’s calmness and maturity in the Arsenal star’s France debut at home to the Ivory Coast on Friday, via quotes by Goal.
Saliba enjoyed his Les Bleus bow at the Stade de France in a friendly with Nicolas Pepe’s Les Elephants. Deschamps introduced the centre-half as a 58th-minute substitute in place of Raphael Varane in the first change of the clash, which ended with France winning 2-1.
Pepe had broken the deadlock 19 minutes into the first-half after beating Tottenham shot-stopper Hugo Lloris at his near post. Olivier Giroud then drew the 2018 World Cup winners level, before Monaco ace Aurelien Tchouameni completed the comeback after 94 minutes.
The Stade de France crowd welcomed Saliba onto the pitch with loud cheers, having shone at the ground all season. He has flourished under Jorge Sampaoli during a season-long loan to Marseille, which the £27m star has hinted he is open to making permanent this summer.
Mikel Arteta let Saliba leave and return to France with Marseille on loan, having yet made his Arsenal debut still. The Gunners’ 2019 capture under Unai Emery has only spent half a season in north London, which saw him feature eight times for the club’s Under-23s side.
Deschamps lauds ‘calm’ William Saliba after Arsenal star makes France debut
Saliba is showing Arteta what the now-France international can offer Arsenal while on loan at Marseille. And the defender, who has only featured on the bench twice for the Gunners, delighted Les Bleus boss Deschamps against the Ivory Coast alongside Matteo Guendouzi.
“No, I wasn’t scared,” Deschamps said. “It’s good for them, even if I would have preferred [the supporters’ cheers] to be for everyone. They are two young players who have a lot of maturity. William is incredibly calm.”
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