Legendary Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly has apologised to Arsenal centre-back William Saliba as he “never saw this level of performance coming”.

Saliba moved to the Gunners in 2019 from French side Saint-Etienne for a fee of around ￡27m with the France international biding his time before he got a chance at the Emirates Stadium.

The Arsenalcentre-back returned to Saint-Etienne initially before further loans at Nice and Marseille aided his development.

While on loan at Marseille, Saliba won the Ligue Un Young Player of the Year award before finally getting his chance in the Arsenal first team under Mikel Arteta in the 2022/23 season.

Saliba is now one half of one of the best centre-back partnerships in world football with Arsenal team-mate Gabriel Magalhaes.

And Desailly admits he never expected Saliba to reach the high levels that he is currently performing at after watching him in a 3-1 win over Inter Milan, where he partnered Cristhian Mosquera in central defence.

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Desailly told Card Player: “I have to apologise to William Saliba, because I never saw this level of performance coming.

“I looked at him when he first joined Arsenal and I didn’t see him becoming a world-class player – that was a huge misjudgement!

“He has shown leadership, consistency and he has such a high ceiling; we haven’t even seen the best of him yet.

“I’m so proud of him, especially with how he’s cemented himself into Mikel Arteta’s system and become a crucial player for them.

“The club was desperate for leaders a few years ago, and Saliba is now part of the leadership group there. He’s helped take the Gunners to the next level and allowed them to challenge for major trophies.

“France are so lucky to have him too; they can rely on a brilliant centre-back in him at the upcoming World Cup.

“He’s a really valuable asset to both his club and country, and I look forward to seeing how good he can become.”

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Leaders Arsenal are currently seven points ahead of Manchester City and Aston Villa, who occupy second and third place respectively, in the Premier Leaguebut Desailly has urged the Gunners not to become “too distracted” by other competitions.

Desailly added: “The Premier League is far from over and stranger things have happened in football – that’s what makes it such an amazing game.

“Arsenal need to be careful by not becoming too distracted by the Champions League or other domestic competitions like the FA Cup.

“They can’t afford to lose any key games that might knock the wind out of their sails, such as their match this weekend against?Manchester United.

“Being able to recover psychologically from a defeat in a big game is vitally important, but not every team can do it. We’ve seen many times in the past where a result has had a spiralling effect on a team, and they never really recover to their previous standards.

“While Arsenal have accumulated a commanding lead in the Premier League table, things can change on a weekly basis.”

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