WILLIAM SALIBA has offered to play as an emergency striker to solve Arsenal’s crippling injury crisis.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta admitted he felt sick to his stomach when Kai Havertz tore his hamstring on the club’s Dubai warm-weather camp.
Now centre-half Saliba, who played up front for first club AS Bondy in France, is ready to answer any SOS.
Arteta revealed: “Willy always says ‘I’ll play as striker’. Straight away it was one of his reactions.
“Willy is so funny but it is true he played there. He used to score a lot.
“But a lot of players played there when they were younger.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
“Is that an option to put them up front? You never know what’s going to happen. We are going to have to be creative.”
Arsenal are now without a recognised fit striker following Havertz’s injury, which requires surgery in the coming days.
The German, 25, is out for the season, along with ACL victim Gabriel Jesus, while fellow forwards Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli both have hamstring problems.
Title-chasing Arsenal now have just THREE fit senior attackers in Leandro Trossard, 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and Chelsea loanee Raheem Sterling, who are set to form the Gunners’ attack at Leicester.
Most read in Football
BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS
Saliba, 23, has scored just seven goals in 137 appearances for club and country since making his Arsenal debut in 2022.
But the Frenchman — coached by World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe’s father, Wilfried, as a kid — previously revealed how he “scored a lot of goals” for Bondy.
Saliba said: “I was happy to be the main striker. Most of the time I played, I scored.”
On Havertz’s injury, Arteta said he felt: “A big pain in the tummy. When you see a player in pain it’s a really bad feeling.”
Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino or Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori could also play as an emergency No 9.
There are free agents available, too, like madcap ex-Chelsea star Diego Costa, 36, former Arsenal man Carlos Vela, 35, and Kemar Roofe, 32, who left Rangers last year.
Arteta said: “I’ll explore every possible situation and then make a decision.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
