William Saliba says he grew up an Arsenal fan in France.

The defender also admits he admired Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.

“When I was growing up I watched all the Champions League games," he told arsenal.com. "I couldn't watch the other games because we didn't have all the channels, but that was the first time I watched Arsenal, in the Champions League. Then I had an Arsenal shirt when I was about seven or eight years old. I loved watching Arsenal.

"I had Henry on the back – he was the one I looked up to the most. I loved watching him. Arsene Wenger was the manager, so there were a lot of French connections with Arsenal. I remember watching the big Champions League games, against Barcelona I remember, but the other games too."

Back then young Saliba wanted to grow up to be just like Thierry. He may have since developed into one of the continent's most promising young defenders, but he actually started out as a forward - maybe not surprising considering he was coached by Kylian Mbappe's father at his first club.

“Where I'm from in France, everybody plays football," he continues. “A lot of big footballers are from Bondy – Kylian Mbappe, Jonathan Ikone and lots of others, so people play a lot of football there. I wasn't always a defender. I was a striker, all the way through the academy, until I was 12 years old. I played in midfield a bit as well, but I only became a defender when I changed club.

“I joined a club called Montfermeil and that was the age when we went to playing on a full-size pitch. The coach there said to me: 'Let me try you at centre back,' and from that moment I didn't change.

“I was always tall for my age so I liked playing there, and I started watching defenders more and more to learn from them. I watched all of the top defenders, wanting to learn from all of them, and at that time especially Virgil van Dijk was somebody I looked at, to learn from his game."