OM – Cannet-Rocheville: “I heard ‘Saliba in the France team’, I made two mistakes in a match: it calmed me down”

You joined OM this summer. What is your first assessment of your experience at OM?

WS: The results are positive. We are second in the championship even if we did not make it through the group stage of the Europa League. We are transferred to the Europa Conference Conference. It’s a good phase to go. Personally, I play good matches even if I also made mistakes. It allows me to learn, to progress. I am still a young player. For now, it’s positive but we have to stay focused.

We have the impression that OM have gone from a slightly crazy team at the start of the season to a more rational team. Do you agree with that?

WS: We had a soft period where we no longer scored, we went on to draw matches. We are now the best defense in the championship when we conceded a lot of avoidable goals at the start of the season. We come back well. We have built a very good team. Objective number 1: play in the Champions League and give back to the fans. And go as far as possible in the Coupe de France and the Europa Conference Conference.

You have revenge to take with the Coupe de France in which you are playing the round of 16 this Sunday. You were deprived of the final by Arsenal in 2020 while Saint-Etienne faced PSG at the Stade de France. Do you still have it stuck in your throat?

WS: Yes. A final, you don’t play it every year. It’s hard to go to the final. We had a very good trip. It leaves a bitter taste and stays in the back of my mind.

Do you know since when OM did not win the Coupe de France?

WS: It must have been a long time …

1989 …

WS: Oh yeah, anyway …

OM and you therefore have very good reasons to go to the end this year.

WS: It’s all the harm I wish us. In the Coupe de France, everyone has their teeth. There are no big or small teams. It will be necessary to respect the adversary. They will be more motivated than us. We must not take the easy step.

After 4 months at the club, what if you had to remember just one thing from Jorge Sampaoli?

WS: He’s a winning lover. Everyone likes to win but him…. That’s why we see him going back and forth or stressing out. Even before the game, he’s like that, energized.

That’s why he sometimes scares us …

WS: (laughs) Not afraid but he encourages us, he makes us feel good.

What does he expect from you?

WS: That I defend well, that the recovery passes through us, that it comes out quickly. You shouldn’t take time to get the ball out, but it should go quickly. He trusts me, for the moment, it matches well between us.

You have missed a game since the start of the season when there is a lot of competition in your position. You are already the boss of this defense. As in Saint-Etienne when you started out, as in Nice when you declared on your arrival: “I want to be the boss“Everything seems easy for you.

WS: Everything is going well but everything is not easy. I was also able to lose my team in some matches. I have to stay focused. It’s not when you have three, four good matches that you have to relax. Because football goes fast. We forget all the good performances when you start to falter.

You get the impression that you are sealed off under pressure.

WS: We always have the small ball but, on the field, I am relaxed, I do not ask myself too many questions. Sometimes I should ask more because I’m taking too many risks. But I try to take measured risks. I have to be careful not to play too easy.

Fabio Frasconi, one of your first coaches, told us: “He plays like a senator. I only saw him once under pressure: for his first match with the France U16 team. He was not good at all but he played again three days later, the coach trusted him. It clicked on him like a click. He understood that every game does not necessarily act like a cleaver.“

WS: That’s right, I remember that game. I was in the France team, the intensity was higher, I was surprised in the first match but I was able to catch up. In pro, I had a lot of pressure. At first, it’s hot. You tell yourself that if you miss yourself, the coach will no longer trust you. The first season in Saint-Etienne, I had a lot of pressure. They gave me the pass, it was urgent and, yes, it was scary. Coach Gasset trusted me.

Like Mbappé, you are one of the representatives of the complex zero generation. Namely young people who take power in big French clubs. Where does it come from? Bondy?

WS: In Bondy, we have that. There is a good breeding ground. Young people are crazy. They are not afraid of anyone, neither of the duel nor of the contact nor of the opponent in front. And we manage to reproduce it pro.

Even in your game it feels like nothing can get to you. Is this your greatest strength?

WS: Yes. I’m not afraid to take risks even if it can hurt the team. I need to know when to take measured risks. Very big players take risks. They don’t play simple, they don’t hide. I have to take the initiative.

Who is your model?

Van Dijk is the one of the moment. Marquinhos too.

You are often compared to Raphaël Varane.

WS: (Smiles) It’s nice but there is a world of difference anyway considering all he has accomplished. I play a bit like him. The comparison is big for now.

Did the tackle against Mbappé during the shock against Paris change anything in the perception that people have of you?

WS: If you want to become a great player, it is in these matches that you have to make your name. I had a very good game. The odds have risen a bit. But it’s only a game, I’ve already moved on. It is in these posters that you prove that you can go even higher. On this action, I saw Kylian’s call. I could have played offside but I thought to myself: “I have to run it.“I managed to tackle him well. It’s worth a goal because if I miss him, he shoots us.

On the other hand, your former coaches or former teammates are categorical: you still have to work on the offensive head game …

WS: I only scored one goal, it’s too little. However, I have had situations … There is a big margin on this point. It is not normal to have only scored one goal when I am tall and I tear everything when I go up. The offensive head game and concentration are my two main areas of progress.

We were also told about your left foot …

WS: (chuckles) My left foot isn’t gross but I don’t trust it and there are situations where I tell myself I’m going to go outside instead. It is not disgusting… soon you will see. I don’t have to use it anymore.

After the game against Lazio, where you were guilty of two mistakes, how do you feel?

WS: Right away, there is questioning. When you are young, you do three, four good matches. You feel good and you drop a little in motivation. Against Lazio, I realized that maybe I should have motivated myself more in the pre-game, been more focused. For a week I was in pain. You remember. But that’s how you learn and grow.

After six months without playing at Arsenal, when Mikel Arteta, your manager, says that you are not ready, do you have no doubts?

WS: There are hard times. I haven’t played a game for six months. You have to fight in a career. We must take that as a lesson to go further. It gave me a little slap to say: “You are nobody! “ You can be bought for 30 million euros, arrive in a club and we put you aside. I took this experience by being positive. I feed on it. I know what it’s like not to play for six months. Today, every game, I want to play it. It puts the ideas back in place. Before arriving at Arsenal, I said to myself: “Who will I play with in a match? ? “And there, you are not even in the group in the league. It puts a good slap, it feels good. It puts you back on the ground. Football, it goes fast.

Are your successful performances today also a message to the Gunners?

WS: Not a message directly to them. But since I didn’t play for six months, that I had a hard time, I wanted to show that I had the capacity to play at this club. I do it for myself first. It’s not revenge, but when you don’t play for six months, you get fanged.

Are you in contact with Arsenal?

WS: I am in contact with whoever takes care of the loans and I am obviously following Arsenal’s results.

Do you manage to plan for the long term in Marseille or is it necessarily short term as your loan does not have a purchase option?

WS: I’m on loan, but I pretend I’m there for many years. I don’t think of returning to Arsenal normally this summer. I give myself to the club. I don’t think about what will happen afterwards.

At the end of October, Mikel Arteta declared: “Saliba? There is room for him with us.” Your reports have not always been crystal clear. How did you react ?

WS: It’s nice but I remain focused on what I do and my club which is OM today.

When you see Ben White signing at Arsenal this summer for € 50million, how do you react?

WS: Football is like that. Big teams, there is competition everywhere. If you’re afraid of the competition, don’t play soccer.

In the last list of Didier Deschamps, Jules Koundé, Dayot Upamecano and Kurt Zouma covered the position of right axial defender. Did you think there was room for you?

WS: Of course there is always room. But we are a country where, at each post, there are thousands of players. You have to try to be as regular as possible. We must make further progress. This is another step. And I hope that when the coach needs me, I will respond.

What do you need to integrate the Blues according to you?

WS: Be more consistent. I heard ‘Saliba in the France team’ a lot and then I made two mistakes in the match against Lazio. It calmed me down. I have to keep my feet on the ground. But of course when you are French, you want to represent your country.

Are you looking at the lists?

WS: I look around a bit, not especially to see if there is my name (laughs).

The way you play at OM, in a three-way defense… It looks like what the France team is doing today.

WS: I am a player with potential who can claim it in the future. But there is still a way to go, to be more constant.

Do you have any contact with Didier Deschamps, Guy Stéphan or any pre-convocations?

WS: No, no and no.

Is the World Cup in Qatar one of your goals?

WS: I don’t tell myself I have to be there. But why not. You have to stay focused. For now, I am in Hopes. When the coach needs me, it will happen naturally.

What is your biggest dream today?

WS: Win as many titles as possible with my clubs and my selection. Whatever there is to gain, we win.