William Saliba has explained why he started to follow Arsenal as a child, despite not coming from a footballing family.

Speaking to Arsenal.com this week, William Saliba confirmed that he loved playing football from an early age, but his family didn’t like the sport as much as he did.

Perhaps as a result of that fact, Saliba’s ability to watch games on TV was limited. Funnily enough, that ended up getting him into watching Arsenal.

“When I was growing up I watched all the Champions League games,” Saliba said.

“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.”

If you could only watch the Champions League games during that era, it’s not surprising you might end up as an Arsenal fan. The Gunners were ever-present in the competition, up until the last few years.

Not only that, but they had some historic European nights during that period, and they reached the final when Saliba was five years old – probably explaining why he then had an Arsenal shirt at seven or eight.

With a French manager and superstar player, and plenty of games on TV, Arsenal must have been very attractive to a young French football fan.

Now Saliba is at the club trying to secure a top-four finish so the next generation can see Arsenal back in the Champions League.