Saliba to undergo surgery, Arsenal without defensive leader for four to five months

William Saliba is set to undergo back surgery and miss four to five months of competition, according to L’Équipe. The Arsenal defender left the pitch in the 30th minute of the World Cup semi-final lost to Spain (0-2), unable to continue.

Before requesting his substitution, Saliba confided his distress to Dayot Upamecano in unequivocal terms: « I can’t take it anymore, my back is dead. » These words alone sum up the physical reality in which the 25-year-old player had been operating for several months.

The former Olympique de Marseille and Saint-Étienne defender had indeed been suffering from chronic back pain well before the start of the tournament. Already hampered during the Champions League final with Arsenal against Paris Saint-Germain, he nevertheless chose to compete in the United States, at the cost of an intensive medical protocol: massive painkiller injections and drastically reduced training sessions. He was notably exempted from collective recovery sessions the day after matches, a method jointly validated by the medical staffs of Arsenal and the French national team.

Despite this fragility, Saliba established himself as one of the World Cup’s best defenders, pushing his limits until his body finally gave way. The parallel with Samuel Umtiti in 2018 — who sacrificed his knee to secure the second star, at the cost of the rest of his career — naturally comes to mind.

Further tests are still to refine the diagnosis, but surgery is now the most likely scenario. Arsenal anticipates an absence of four to five months for their key player, a heavy prospect as a new Premier League season looms. Zinedine Zidane’s France team will also have to do without him during their next gatherings in the autumn.