Top Facts about William Saliba, the French defender

William Saliba is a fast player, he has got the gift of reading the attacker’s mind and instead of catching the ball, most of the times he attempts to guess other player’s next moves. Also his stamina is notable.

Overall, he is indeed a great defender. Saliba is also said to be an interceptor which is considered as one of his pivotal traits.

Despite the

fact about William Saliba

that he is still a teenager, his intelligence and the ability to take control of any kind of situation while playing, brings him the best of feedbacks from people.

In addition to the compliments he receives from fans, the manager Jose Mourinho also once mentioned Saliba’s name in an interview and said that he has all the potentials to become an excellent player. Mourinho also associated Saliba to the 26-year-old footballer, Kurt Zouma.

The followings are top facts about William Saliba:

A fact about William Saliba that you might have never heard before is that he actually has Lebanese descent from his father as well as African ancestry from his mother.

William Saliba’s Childhood

William Alain André Gabriel Saliba or commonly known as William Saliba was born on 24 March 2001. His hometown is Bondy, one of the communes in the northeastern suburbs of Paris. The French footballer was born to a Lebanese father and a Cameroonian mother.

Another fact about William Saliba is that sadly he has lost both his mother and his father, but the reason behind such loss or even the exact date they passed away has remained unclear up until now. Also their names have never been mentioned anywhere.

Since he has no siblings, William would spend his childhood with the kids in the neighborhood, running around, playing football and discussing which football club is the best.

Speaking of childhood, William has been a massive Arsenal fan since he was just a little kid. In point of fact, his family didn’t know anything about their son’s passion for football until he officially announced that he is a fan of Arsenal. Therefore, his parents decided to buy him an Arsenal jersey for his birthday gift.

As a matter of fact, a few years ago Saliba himself talked about his obsession with The Gunners in an interview:

“I fell in love with the badge and history of Arsenal since I was a kid and I’ve been watching the club perform in various tournaments.”

William’s childhood gradually passed with the hope of becoming a football star. He was a dreamer and so determined to achieve what he wants and this has always been a distinct feature in this young player’s personality.

One more

fact about William Saliba

is that when he turned six years old and started playing football in the streets, he was discovered by Kylian Mbappe’s father and as a result, Saliba joined the Bondy academy. And then years later, he publicly told the media that everything he has is because of Wilfried Mbappe.

More specifically, William Saliba’s career as a footballer started in 2008. As mentioned before, he spent his youth career playing for AS Bondy (2008-2014), FC Montfermeil (2014-2016) and Saint-Etienne (2016-2018).

William Saliba’s Club Career

So as to start playing at the senior level, William Saliba moved to Southern France where he signed a contract with the Ligue 1 club,

in May 2018.

On 25 September the same year, he made his debut for the club in a 3-2 win against

. During his one-season career in the French football club, Saliba made 16 appearances without scoring a goal.

On 25 July 2019, it was finally announced that William Saliba had joined

on a “long-term deal” with an undisclosed fee. But of course the media always searches for answers to every questions. It was later revealed that Saliba would be playing for the English club on a £27 million deal for the period of five years.

Another fact about William Saliba is that he had to choose between Arsenal and

as both of the clubs were somehow competing to sign a contract with the young French footballer.

Considering the fact that Arsenal had been trying to reach Saliba from 2018, in the end he decided to join The Gunners. William was right away given the jersey with the number 4 on it. He made his debut for the club on 25 July 2019 in a pre-season friendly match with

.

But then again for the 2019-2020 season, the French footballer returned to his previous team Saint-Etienne on a loan. Saliba made 17 appearances for the club on the whole which contributed the team in winning the 2020 Coupe de France Final.

However, William missed the final when his loan agreement ended two weeks before to the final match, which was in fact delayed when the COVID-19 pandemic had started.

Subsequently, Saliba returned to Arsenal. During the game over

in the 2020 FA Community Shield, Saliba was actually an unused substitute. Nevertheless, the match resulted in a 5-4 win for Arsenal.

For the 2020-2021 season, William Saliba was left out of the club's competitive squads which means that he could have only played for the team at U23 level. Afterwards, Arsenal’s manger, Mikel Arteta publicly said that they regret the decision.

Actually things were getting out of control back in Arsenal and William had a tough time maintaining his spot on the team. As a result, on 4 January 2021 Saliba moved to the Ligue 1 side

on a six-month loan. In point of fact, on his difficult journey at Arsenal, he says:

“I really, really, really didn’t think that I would be transferred for €30 million, to think that I would arrive, where people were expecting a lot from me, the fans were excited about me and you find yourself in the reserves, play zero-zero, nothing in the Europa League or the league.

“I was in the squad once in the league cup. It hurt me, it affected me. I don’t think I left too early. When you feel ready you have to go. I don’t think I left too early. These things happen. I believe in myself.”

“It is clear that so much has changed in the last year, when I saw that the coach changed a lot changed for me too.

“He judged me on two-and-a-half matches. I would have liked for him to play me more but he told me I wasn’t ready.

“I was waiting for him to give me a chance, but football is like that. When I initially came to Arsenal the league looked very good so I showed up to training and wanted to train on my own to show the coach I was ready.

“I am happy now, I want to play for Nice. The idea when you’re part of a team is a better feeling for me.”

William Saliba later made his first appearance for Nice on 6 January 2021. It happened to be a 2-0 loss for Nice over

in Ligue 1.

Due to the outstanding performance he had during that month, Saliba made a great impact on everyone and thereby won the Nice's Player of the Month award in January.

He later publicly talked about the experience of moving to OGC Nice:

“For me the best choice, best decision was to join OGC Nice because there is a good project, a good team, a good level of ambition, who like to play in a certain way.

“It feels good to play and to have consistent game time, I am young, I am 19, and it is by playing matches like this that you improve. You see what mistakes you make and you correct them. For the next match.

“It is true that for the moment we are not in a great situation, but we are going to do everything we can to get out of this.”

William Saliba’s International Career

Up to now, William Saliba is only playing for the

national team at the youth level. As a matter of fact, he started his international career 4 years ago in 2017. He began with under-16 and right now as a 19-year-old footballer, he is playing at under-20.

During all the 22 appearances Saliba has made for his country’s national team, he has scored four goals so far. His first goal was scored in 2017 at under-16, later he went to score two other goals at under-17 and the last one was scored a year ago at under-18.

Obviously this young French player is waiting to be called up to begin his senior international career.

The Leaked Video Controversy

William Saliba has recently gotten into trouble after a Snapchat video of him got leaked and went viral. The video was taken three years ago and apparently the French footballer was in the dressing room wearing an international jersey.

But he wasn’t the only person in the room, since one of his teammates was seen in the video as well, who was actually naked and yet unrecognizable. So if you are wondering what the problem with this video is, well, Saliba shockingly starts touching himself after a few seconds.

So a video which was supposed be “just for fun” gets pretty much serious and causes trouble for the 19-year-old footballer. Subsequently, the French Football Federation starts an investigation against him since they believe the leaked video could be “harmful to the image of the Federation and football as a whole.”

William Saliba’s Social Media

One of the first things that every fan searches for is obviously their idol’s social media. These platforms are like bridges that actually connect people’s lives from around the world with each other.

And if you’re curious and looking for more details about William’s personal life, well, good news for you because he is active on all the social media platforms that most people use on a daily basis.

He might not be as active as an influencer but at least he shares a selection of both his personal life and work related content with people once in a while.

You can check William Saliba’s Instagram account (

) with more than 319k followers where he mostly posts pictures of himself playing or practicing with his teammates. On the other hand, William’s Facebook page (

) with approximately 54k followers is also there for everyone to follow.

However, there is no verified account in Twitter owned by William Saliba; therefore, we assume he does not have one at the moment.

Another

fact about William Saliba

which might be interesting to know is that he is low-key into motivational quotes. Actually his bio in Facebook says “Never stop believing.” And even his Instagram account is somehow filled with motivational quotes.

This might help us to learn another fact about his personality which says that William has a big heart and loves motivating people, to push them towards their goals and dreams and to remind them that there is literally nothing stronger than you that could possibly break you down in the middle of the way.

More Facts about William Saliba

• Full name: William Alain André Gabriel Saliba

• Birth date: 24 March 2001

• Birth place: Bondy, France

• Nickname: Mr. Clean, The new Lilian Thuram

• Height: 1.92 m

• Weight: 83 kg

• Preferred foot: right

By all accounts, William Saliba is apparently single at the moment. He has not seen out with anyone so far and it is assumed that football is the main concern of this young player for now.

Actually when he was asked about how he sees his future, he replied:

“I don’t know. I have learned now that it is better not to look too far in the future. So I am focused on just these 6 months to try to give absolutely everything and for the rest we will see.”

One more fact about William Saliba is that in the early years of his career, he used to play in the attacking position. But finally came to the conclusion that he was not born to be an attacker; thereby, he made up his mind to switch his position to a defender.

Also in 19 March 2021, it was confirmed from the media that William Saliba has tested positive for COVID-19. It was said that he has to isolate himself for around ten days at least to go back to his normal life routine.

William Saliba’s Net Worth and Salary

As previously stated, William Saliba started his professional career with Saint-Etienne on an undisclosed fee. Later his impressive performance, specific characteristics, style of playing, stamina, pace etc. attracted some of the great football clubs’ attention such as Arsenal and The Spurs.

Saliba then choose to play for Arsenal on a five-year deal which was also worth £27 million. Arsenal was somehow William’s stepping stone, as he was suddenly playing for one of the biggest teams where people started expecting a lot from him and got their hopes high for his future in the club.

Although William Saliba’s transfer fee to his current team, Nice, has not been revealed so far, it is said that his salary might be around €520,000 per year, which means this young French footballer earns €1,425 per day and €59 per hour!

There is not available information regarding his personal properties but

William Saliba’s net worth

is allegedly the estimated number of €275,000.

And of course, this number is going to increase in the blink of an eye since as a footballer, William is still so young and has not even started his senior international career yet.

Also if you are wondering how much

William Saliba’s market value

is, then it might be noteworthy to say that it is approximately €25 million.

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