William Saliba
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is likely to be without William Saliba for the start of the next season.
The centre-back was facing ankle issues on four different occasions last season and still played 50 matches. He is at the World Cup with France, who lost to Spain in the semi-final on Tuesday.
The Arsenal star was on the bench against Norway and started every other match. Saliba couldn’t complete the match against La Roja and Maxence Lacroix replaced him in the 30th minute.
Details of Arsenal man’s setback
L’Equipe cover the 25-year-old’s ‘chronic back pain’ and when he could return to the pitch.
William Saliba managed to feature regularly at the World Cup because of his ‘courage and painkillers’.
The French newspaper claims he told Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano that he ‘can’t take it anymore’ minutes before leaving the pitch.
Didier Deschamps isn’t hammered for risking the defender, since he’d played with the chronic back problem for several months using painkillers. This also meant he had to do light training, a method also followed at Arsenal.
The central defender felt pain in the fifth minute in the Champions League final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. He went on to play the full 120 minutes but couldn’t repeat it against Spain.
What’s next for Arsenal player
There are multiple reasons William Saliba has aggravated his back problem.
L’Equipe states: ‘In these high-level matches, stress and intensity create tension and exacerbate the injury, particularly during high-intensity runs.’
The Frenchman will undergo further tests to find out the next course of action. The report insists surgery is the most likely outcome, and he could be on the sidelines for several months.
Mikel Arteta’s side suspect he’ll be out for four to five months, depending on the type of treatment.
Samuel Umtiti played through pain during France’s 2018 World Cup success. This had a huge impact on his fitness and career, which went downhill from there before he retired in 2025.
L’Equipe believe Saliba has ‘risked his career’ by doing what he did at the World Cup.
Arsenal had earlier identified RB Leipzig’s Castello Lukeba as a target, but there’s been no concrete claims recently. It’s unclear whether the Premier League winners will look for a new centre-back this summer.
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