“I had a great conversation with (former Arsenal defender and academy manager) Per Mertesacker after the final in Baku,” says Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke.
“I made a comment about Virgil van Dijk, who had arrived at Liverpool a year or two before. I said, ‘How do we get one of these guys into our system?’”
Mertesacker explained that unless Arsenal were prepared to pay £100million, they shouldn’t even think about the likes of Van Dijk. Undeterred, Kroenke asked the former German international who he considered the best young defender in Europe.
“He turned without hesitation and said, ‘William Saliba.’”
Within a matter of months, Saliba had signed for Arsenal. It would be three years before he made his Premier League debut, and Kroenke admits to fretting over whether the signing would get his opportunity.
“I was sitting over in America laughing, going, ‘Please let this kid work out!’,” he says.
Read @gunnerblog’s full interview with Josh Kroenke for free: https://t.co/Jtkqf1znAO
Josh Kroenke on the West Ham equaliser: “I was on my hands and knees in my living room. I just kept saying to myself, ‘I thought he held his hand’. It was a moment where I think every Arsenal supporter worldwide held their breath.”
But when Max Dowman became the youngest Premier League goalscorer against Everton, the emotions were very different.
Josh: “We had just adopted a puppy. So when Max went on his run, I scared the hell out of the puppy by jumping up and yelling at the television. That dog peed on the floor right there next to me!”
When Arsenal beat Burnley 1-0, Kroenke was in the directors’ box. He flew back to the U.S. the next morning, landing just as Bournemouth scored against Manchester City to put Arsenal within touching distance of the title.
“My first phone call was to my dad, my second was to Mikel (Arteta). I figured he wouldn’t answer right away because he was probably doing exactly what I was doing at that moment, which was celebrating and crying with your loved ones. But a few minutes later, he called me back, and we had a great moment.”
Josh Kroenke in 2019 wanted a Van Dijk type player:
“Per Mertesacker replied: ‘Well unless you’ve got 100 million quid, you better not be thinking about him.’
“Josh Kroenke said: ‘Well who’s the best young defender in Europe?’
“Per turned without hesitation and said: ‘William Saliba’.”