“Saliba deserved it too”: Mbappe on Arsenal star’s stellar 2023/24 season | OneFootball

French 2023/24 Player of the Season Kylian Mbappe has claimed that Arsenal’s William Saliba would also have been a worthy recipient of the award.

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Kylian Mbappe was recently presented with France Football’s Player of the Season award for the 2023/24 campaign, having narrowly come out on top in the voting.

Votes are cast by former winners of the trophy, with each voter casting three votes for their top-three players. Mbappe ultimately won with 56 points, but that only put him marginally ahead of Arsenal’s William Saliba on 51.

“We have to be fair. [Saliba] would have deserved it too,” Mbappe admitted afterwards.

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We know the identity of at least one of the voters for Saliba, with Karim Benzema putting Eduardo Camavinga as his first choice, Bradley Barcola in second, and Saliba in third.

Interestingly, the former Real Madrid man didn’t name the current Madrid number nine in his top-three.

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Saliba had an excellent 2023/24 campaign on an individual level, playing every minute in the Premier League for Arsenal as the Gunners narrowly missed out on the title.

The centre-back’s form earned him a place in Didier Deschamps’ France side for Euro 2024, and once again he played every minute up to their semi-final defeat to Spain. He helped France keep four clean sheets in six games along the way.

Ultimately, the voters just about opted for Mbappe, but Saliba’s name is evidently also a popular one in France. It’s good of Mbappe to admit that it was a close call.