We don’t know the full extent of William Saliba’s back problem yet.
Arsenal reporter Charles Watts has urged that the club are waiting to assess Saliba properly on his return and that any suggestion of a specific timeframe is speculation.
He is of course referring to L’Equipe’s report that Saliba is expected to undergo surgery, and will be out for four to five months.
What is clear is that Saliba has been managing this problem for some time. The back issue effectively cost Arsenal the title in 2023, when his injury against Sporting CP derailed their season.
🏆 Fill in the blank: I am ___% confident Arsenal can retain our Premier League title next season…
That problem has seemingly come back. He’s been playing through pain and relying on strong painkillers and a carefully managed training programme throughout the World Cup.
Given the history of back injuries in football, that is so worrying.
William Saliba’s back injury is unlike any other setback for Arsenal
Unlike a torn ACL or a broken bone, back injuries don’t necessarily come with a clear timeline, and there’s no guarantee of full recovery.
A player can feel fine one week and unable to train the next.
They have to carefully manage the issue, which gets harder every year with the increasing number of fixtures they are expected to play.
For a defender like Saliba, whose game is heavy on explosive pace and being physically dominant, that’s a huge problem.
Examples from football history aren’t encouraging either. Gareth Bale hurt his back at 18 and it never really left him.
It led to recurring calf and hamstring problems that plagued him throughout his career and eventually pushed him towards early retirement.
Chris Kirkland was once considered England’s future number one, but a back injury cost him his agility and, by his own account, left him playing in fear of re-injury for years.
Marcus Rashford suffered a double back stress fracture in 2020 after being pushed to play through pain, and there’s an argument that he never fully recovered his old sharpness.
John Terry is the closer-to-best-case example. A recurring disc injury threatened his career before specialist surgery, but he had to alter his game to compensate and was visibly less explosive.
With Saliba, who is still 25, hopefully surgery, if confirmed, resolves the issue cleanly and he returns as close to his best as possible.
Matthijs de Ligt is going through a similar process at Manchester United after missing the second half of last season.
The Dutch defender underwent surgery in May and will miss at least another few months before he is back.
Mikel Arteta cannot afford to treat William Saliba as indestructible
Saliba played 31 of Arsenal’s 37 Premier League games last season, and in the six he missed they had a 50% win rate.
Obviously, he’s not easily replaceable.
Cristhian Mosquera is currently the only fit senior right-sided centre-back at the club, with Ben White and Jurrien Timber both carrying their own fitness concerns, which makes the pursuit of Ezri Konsa more urgent.
But the longer-term issue is about how Arsenal manage him going forward.
Like Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, Saliba needs proper, careful management with his workload.
That is hopefully something the club’s medical overhaul this summer can help with.
Best case, Saliba’s back in December and eases his way back to his best.
But history suggests that road won’t be smooth sailing, and for a player this important, Mikel Arteta cannot afford to rush it.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
