‘I feel enormous pride’, ‘will go far, very far’: Coach tips Arsenal 19-year-old for superstardom

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Arsenal ace William Saliba has been compared to Raphael Varane by Fabio Froscino, his former youth coach at AS Bondy, as quoted by The Metro.

The Gunners beat Tottenham Hotspur to the signing of the teenage centre-back last summer in a £27million deal from Saint-Etienne (BBC Sport), but had to loan him back to the Ligue 1 club for the 2019-20 season as part of the deal.

Saliba missed a large part of the campaign through injury but impressed on his return against Monaco at the end of January and duly returned to the starting XI prior to the football suspension.

Indeed, the 19-year-old helped his side reach the French Cup final for the first time in 38 years in early March, and as such, excitement is palpable amongst many Arsenal fans regarding his arrival at the Emirates Stadium once his loan stint is up.

Saliba, who has been ranked 12th in Goal’s NxGn 2020 list of the top 50 youngsters in world football, was highly praised by Froscino, who is quoted by The Metro as saying: “William will go far, very far. He reminds me of Raphael Varane.

“As a kid, he was already above the lot, technically clean, comfortable with the ball. I had positioned him at the centre-forward position. Evolving then in central defence would not have allowed him, in my opinion, to progress.

“I feel enormous pride when I see him playing at this level, with this composure, this maturity, this accuracy, this sense of anticipation and this application. I have never seen a kid have such a desire to succeed. He wanted, from an early age, to be a professional footballer, already hated defeat, transcended himself.”

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Arsenal’s defence hasn’t exactly been watertight this season, and Mikel Arteta is likely to bolster his ranks when the transfer window reopens, but with a player of Saliba’s calibre arriving in the summer, already things are looking up for the Gunners back line.

Despite his young age, Saliba has shown he has what it takes at the top level in a difficult league, with plaudits continuing to come his way, and with so much untapped potential and progress yet to come from the , it’s no wonder Gunners fans are getting excited.