William Gallas: ‘Sometimes William Saliba can be magnificent but sometimes he can be a disaster.’ | OneFootball

William Saliba (23) is perceived differently on either side of the English Channel. In England, he is regarded as an elite-level centre-back; his performances last season earned him a place in the Premier League Team of the Year. However, he doesn’t always get such rave reviews in France.

Les Bleus manager Didier Deschamps has previously criticised the Arsenal centre-back. “He is having a good season but he also does things that I don’t like so much. For France, he has limited game time but when he plays, that hasn’t necessarily gone well. The hierarchy doesn’t favour him at the moment, but he is here,” he said in a press conference in March.

According to L’Équipe, Saliba is away of the disparity in how he is perceived in France and in England. That is reflected in comments made by William Saliba during an exclusive interview with Get French Football News.

“France have so many talented young centre-backs. It’s always the same question, though, and that is which one is going to be consistent? Which ones are going to be the starters?” began the former France international defender.

“Unfortunately, it’s difficult for William Saliba to be in the starting XI because you have Ibrahima Konaté from Liverpool and Dayot Upamecano from Bayern, and sometimes Saliba can be magnificent, but sometimes he can be a disaster as he’s not consistent. That’s why it’s a big problem for Didier Deschamps to know exactly who is going to be the number one, or the partnership at centre-back! For every other country, Saliba would probably walk into the XI with ease, but with France, it’s different and that is very tough for him – especially as they have been so successful in recent years. We have some great young centre-backs in the French team, that’s for sure,” added Gallas.

William Gallas was answering GFFN’s questions on behalf of Gambling Zone.

GFFN | Jeremy Smith