A video has been gone viral on social media, allegedly showing professional footballer William Saliba and a group of other people in French national training tracksuits, with one of the personnel exposing himself on camera.
The French defender is currently on loan to Nice from Arsenal and has recently been caught up in controversy following an interview whereby he made comments hitting out at current manager Mikel Arteta.
While the alleged leaked video was shared on Twitter and Snapchat shortly after his interview outburst, it is not believed that the video is new, nor has William or any other French national player’s involvement in the video been confirmed.
Here’s an explanation.
Alleged William Saliba ‘leaked video’
William Saliba is a French footballer who was bought by Premier League outfit Arsenal for £27 million. However, he only featured for the under 23s and was loaned to Nice, where he’s played seven games this season.
In the video, a naked man appears to be playing with himself while looking at his phone camera.
Around him, there are several people wearing French national training tracksuits, which look most similar to the 2019 tracksuits.
Filming the action is the man who social media has claimed to be William Saliba. This man shows his face clearly on camera at the end of the video for 10 seconds.
Users have got many questions about the video, from why is this man being filmed naked in what appears to be a hotel lobby and if the person filming the action in fact William Saliba.
While some Twitter users have speculated that former PSG and current Inter Miami midfielder Blaise Matuidi is in the video, this appears unlikely.
William Saliba, if in the video, has never represented the full French national team and has only played youth football for the under 20s, 19s and lower. Matuidi is 33 years old while William is 19 years old.
While we’re not sure if they’ve ever hung-out on the social scene, William and Blaise have never played for the same football team at the same time.
How did the William Saliba video get leaked?
It has not been confirmed how the ‘leaked’ video spread online, nor has William Saliba or any other French football players addressed the video.
However, the initial video does appear to be from a private Snapchat message as the video shows someone screen recording the Snap he sent – at the end of the video you can see the Snapchat Home Screen.
Social media’s reaction to Saliba leaked video
The ‘Holding and Wood’ meme has circulated football Twitter for weeks, and now this is a perfect time for the meme to be applied and is a short but perfect description of the video.
This tweeter uses this hilarious Stormzy meme of his stuttering and mixing up his words in a Capital Xtra interview.
At the time of writing, no-one in the video has been accurately identified.
