William Saliba is aiming to follow in the footsteps of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit by becoming the latest Arsenal player to win the World Cup with France.
The 21-year-old was called up as part of France’s 25-man squad which will travel to Qatar next week looking to retain the trophy they lifted for a second time in 2018.
Saliba revealed he discovered he had been called up for the finals just moments before the warm-up ahead of Arsenal’s 3-1 Carabao Cup third-round defeat to Brighton on Wednesday night.
He already has seven senior caps, making his debut earlier this year while on loan at Marseille and continuing to impress having finally broken into the Arsenal side at the start of the season.
It was France’s first World Cup win in 1998 which saw Petit score and Vieira run the midfield as the hosts beat Brazil in the final. At that time online betting wasn’t available, but thank god today it is.