William Saliba Faces Months Out After Back Surgery

William Saliba faces months on the sidelines after it emerged the Arsenal defender must undergo back surgery, a brutal twist at the end of a gruelling year for club and country.

Both L'Équipe and The Athletic report that the centre-back, a mainstay of Mikel Arteta’s defence, will go under the knife to address the back problem that forced him off in France’s Euro semi-final against Spain. What looked like a worrying knock has turned into something far more serious.

The severity of the issue became clear in the immediate aftermath. According to French journalist Julien Laurens, Saliba admitted during the game that his back was “completely done for”, having already been playing through the tournament with the help of strong painkillers. The image of one of Europe’s most composed defenders gritting his teeth through that kind of pain underlines just how long this has been brewing.

Now comes the price.

The operation is expected to rule him out for around four to five months. On that timeline, Arsenal are unlikely to see him back in competitive action before 2027, a major blow to a side built on the stability he provides at the heart of their back line.

For Saliba, it is a hard reset. For Arsenal, it tears a hole in the spine of their team just as the season’s demands start to bite.