William Saliba was an integral part of Arsenal’s title-winning campaign during the 2025/26 Premier League season. Unfortunately for Arsenal fans, he picked up an injury while playing for France in the World Cup semi-final against Spain. Saliba went down untouched in the 30th minute of the match and looked to be in immediate discomfort. The training staff came on and ultimately he was substituted and replaced by Maxence Lacroix.
On Wednesday, Arsenal announced that Saliba will not undergo surgery for the back injury, but will instead be on the sidelines for an “extended period”. How long that could be, nobody knows, but extended period does not sound good.
Arsenal still have plenty of time in the transfer window to find short-term solutions for the right center back position, and they can also solve the issue in-house as well. Both Ben White and Jurrien Timber have experience playing in that role next to Gabriel Magalhães, although it’s far from ideal.
Arsenal kick off their title defense on August 21st against Coventry City, which gives them 30 days to plan out their strategy for the center back position. Let’s see what they decide to do, and hopefully Saliba can be back out there sooner rather than later.
Stay tuned with DK Network for the latest injury updates.
