Plenty of Arsenal stars have had different journeys on their way to becoming top prospects at the Emirates Stadium for the world to see.
Mikel Arteta himself went from playing in midfield for the Gunners to managing them in the space of a decade, showing just how quickly things can change.
For those currently at Arsenal, their journey in football still has plenty of chapters left to be written, with some already writing plenty themselves from their time before joining.
That includes many different positional changes, with Myles Lewis-Skelly originally being a midfielder before his switch to left-back, for example.
While less of a dramatic change, there is one defender at the club who has revealed that he was actually a good striker in his youth days.
Arsenal star William Saliba reveals he used to be a striker before becoming a defender
The journey of William Saliba has been an interesting one, with plenty of different twists and turns through his young career so far.
He signed for Arsenal back in 2019, with a fee worth £27million paid to land the centre-back from Saint-Etienne.
Several loan spells followed before he finally broke into the team under Mikel Arteta, landing a role as a centre-back, one he hasn’t lost since.
Despite his brilliant displays at the back, the Frenchman has revealed he was once a top striker, before he changed position.
He said, via the official Arsenal website: “I was good,” Saliba responded when talking about being a centre-forward growing up.
“I was dangerous, I scored goals. It’s more that my body language was no good, and I realise that now – but I was scary. I scored a lot of goals!”
It comes as quite a surprise, given his tall frame and defensive ability, but Saliba says he still reminds his teammates in training of just how good a striker he can be.
William Saliba continues to show his striker abilities in Arsenal training
William Saliba certainly hasn’t forgotten his roots as a striker, clearly hinting that he still makes his teammates aware of his ability in training.
When asked if his teammates see that centre-forward ability during those sessions, he responded in the interview: “Oh, they know. For sure, sometimes I show them some stuff in training.”
It shows that he still clearly rates some of his attacking ability, which has become quite useful in the build-up phase for some matches.
William Saliba’s goal-scoring record at Arsenal
While Saliba was once a striker, his statistics in terms of scoring aren’t quite up there with the others in the squad.
The defender has been something of a threat from set-pieces, though not to the level of teammate Gabriel Magalhaes.
In his 131 appearances for Arsenal, Saliba has scored just seven, while there are two assists to his name as well.
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