Arsenal have a phenomenal history with French players dawning the famous red and white. From Thierry Henry to Alexandre Lacazette and from Patrick Vieira to Matteo Guendouzi, we have relished the opportunity of watching some of the finest French footballers in world football in Arsenal’s colours.
The Gunners have almost always had a good number of French players in their squad every season. However, Laurent Koscielny’s departure in the summer reduced the number to just two in the first-team.
Koscielny moved to Bordeaux in Ligue 1 where he started off the campaign well. However, his side succumbed to a 1-0 defeat against St Etienne on Saturday where a future Arsenal star in William Saliba stole the show.
Being a young French defender, Saliba would definitely have looked up to Koscielny earlier in his career. Signing for Arsenal would most likely have made him have a deeper look at the former Arsenal skipper’s game and Saturday’s performance showed that he could well emulate Koscielny in the coming years.
The teenager successfully completed three interceptions, won four of his six duels, had 50 touches of the ball and maintained a healthy 82% passing accuracy, all while keeping a clean sheet. (SofaScore)
Arsenal have had their struggles in defence so far this season and watching Saliba develop gives great optimism for next season. The teenager still has over six months to complete his development at his boyhood club and there is no doubt that he will improve a lot more once he joins Arsenal next summer.
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