Mikel Arteta must have felt sick watching from home. His defensive rock, William Saliba, crumpled to the turf at AT&T Stadium in Dallas on July 14, clutching his lower back. Just 30 minutes into France’s World Cup semifinal against Spain, the 25-year-old’s tournament was over.
It wasn’t a tackle. It wasn’t a collision. Saliba was simply jogging back into position when his body gave out. He sat down, waved to the bench, and the cameras caught him repeating the same devastating phrase to medical staff in French. Arsenal fans didn’t need a translator to understand.
Crystal Palace’s Maxence Lacroix replaced him. France went on to lose 2-0, with goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro sending Spain to the final. But for the Gunners, the scoreline is an afterthought.
A Problem That’s Been Building for Months
This didn’t come out of nowhere. Saliba aggravated a back issue during Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat to PSG in late May. Reports from L’Equipe at the time suggested he might need surgery, potentially ruling him out of the World Cup entirely.
Didier Deschamps waved off those concerns. But the signs were there throughout the tournament. Saliba missed training sessions in the days before the semifinal. He was rested for France’s final group game against Norway. His workload was carefully managed.
Saliba himself admitted the extent of the problem during the group stage. He told reporters he’d been dealing with pain for months, pushing through it for Arsenal’s Premier League and Champions League campaigns. He described it as having to keep going because a World Cup only comes around every four years.
That gamble has now backfired — at the worst possible time.
What This Means for Arsenal’s Title Defence
Here’s the question keeping Arsenal fans up at night: does Saliba now need surgery?
FOX Sports reported back in early June that medical assessments pointed toward surgical intervention after the tournament. If that’s the path, he almost certainly won’t be available when Arsenal’s title defence kicks off on August 22. Recovery timelines could stretch well into the autumn months of 2026.
Saliba made 43 appearances and logged over 3,700 minutes last season. He was the backbone of the defence that won the Premier League and reached the Champions League final. Replacing that influence isn’t straightforward.
Arteta does have options. Gabriel would likely partner Cristhian Mosquera, who deputised capably during the 2025-26 season. Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapié, and Jurriën Timber can all operate centrally. None of them, though, offer what Saliba brings — that calming authority that makes everyone around him better.
Arsenal have also been linked with Lacroix, the very man who replaced Saliba in Dallas. According to the Daily Mail, the Gunners and Manchester United are both monitoring the Crystal Palace defender, whose profile closely mirrors Saliba’s.
A Haunting Echo of Qatar 2022
French football has seen this scene before. At the 2022 World Cup, Lucas Hernandez ruptured his ACL just 13 minutes into the opener against Australia. He left the pitch in agony, his tournament immediately finished.
Four years later, another French defender walked off a World Cup pitch with his campaign in ruins. Different injury, different stage of the tournament. Same gut-wrenching image.
Former England striker Chris Sutton, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Live, said what everyone was thinking. He noted that it likely marked the end of Saliba’s World Cup.
France now await scan results. Arsenal await them even more anxiously. The club’s pre-season plans, transfer strategy, and early-season outlook may all hinge on what those scans reveal.
For Saliba, the immediate priority is getting healthy — not just for August, but for the long run. At 25, he’s got years of elite football ahead. But only if this persistent back problem is dealt with once and for all.
