Arsenal and France have a unique relationship in a way which most clubs perhaps cannot say the same for in relation to a particular nation.
The club’s greatest ever manager and player are Frenchmen in Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry.
Furthermore, a whole host of other French icons have represented the North London outfit with names such as Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Emmanuel Petit instantly springing to mind.
In the current Gunners side, another of the country’s gems in William Saliba is most certainly making his mark.
After signing for Arsenal in 2019, the youngster was shipped off on several loan spells, most notably to Marseille last term where he won Ligue 1’s Young Player of the Year.
Saliba has managed to bide his time, wait for his big break and struck gold once being thrown into the deep end for Mikel Arteta’s side, as he is currently hailed as one of the most in-form defenders in the Premier League.
So much so that on Wednesday, France confirmed that the 21-year-old was set to be on the plane to Qatar for the World Cup.
And much like how Arsenal’s French legends of yesteryear won the showpiece event in 1998, the wonderkid has revealed that he would like to emulate them at the upcoming edition of the tournament.
“I want to be the next Frenchman to do that, like [Robert] Pires or [Patrick] Vieira or [Thierry] Henry”, he told Charles Watts of GOAL.
Saliba added, “I am so happy and grateful to be in this squad. I wanted to be in it but in France, we have a lot of good defenders. If I am in the squad, it’s because I had a good start to the season with Arsenal.”
As Les Bleus enter the tournament as one of the outright favourites, William Saliba could recreate the greatness of some of Arsenal’s greatest ever Frenchmen in Qatar.
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