William Saliba was considered an amazing player. While William Saliba has proven to be an important member of the Arsenal squad this season, the Frenchman was skeptical of himself when he first arrived in north London in 2020–21.
The central defender was allegedly described as a “League One-level” defender by a few Gunners players, all of whom have since left the team (according to ESPN). This view was allegedly formed as a result of his awkward positioning and clumsy tackling.
Three loans were given to Saliba. Saliba played for three Ligue 1 teams before even making a start for the Gunners’ senior team: his former club Saint-Etienne, OGC Nice, and Olympique de Marseille.
In the summer of 2022, Saliba returned to the UAE and excelled. He is one of the most important parts of Mikel Arteta’s apparatus. In 28 games this season, the Frenchman has contributed to 10 clean sheets for Arsenal.
Saliba said (as quoted by the official website of the Gunners): “I didn’t play one solitary game here so I always thought about that. I couldn’t leave this incredible club without performing, so I was always planning to return.”
The defense continued, concentrating on the current campaign: “Before I returned, I wanted to play every game but I didn’t know if that would happen. Although I put a lot of effort into it and had assistance from everyone at the club, it is not yet complete. We are all good; even the players who don’t start, so I must keep going and working out diligently. The fact that we are all competing at the same level is healthy.”
For Arsenal’s away Premier League game against Leicester City on February 25, Oleksandr Zinchenko was selected as skipper. The Gunners’ chosen skipper is Martin Odegaard. But as a nice move to commemorate a year since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Zinchenko was appointed captain.
In support of the unrest in his native country, the fullback from Ukraine was made skipper. Odegaard described the event in his program notes, as seen on the official Gunners website: “I was overjoyed to give Zinny the game’s armband. We talked about it briefly in the locker room with the other players before I went to the manager to ask him if we should give it to Zinny. I knew that the Premier League was paying tribute to Ukraine at the weekend’s matches by having all leaders wear special armbands. He regarded it as a wise decision.”
At the moment of writing, Arsenal is in front of Everton 3-0 at the Emirates. Odegaard is on the scoresheet.
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