William Saliba's 'Rashford' comment on Arsenal youngster explained

William Saliba was quick to comment 'Rashford' on Andre Harriman-Annous' Instagram upload to mark his Arsenal first-team debut, in a nod back to a viral video from last December.

The 17-year-old forward was deployed by Mikel Arteta for the first time during the Gunners' 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Brighton on Wednesday evening. There, he put on a solid performance and racked up 77 minutes before he was replaced by Declan Rice.

And taking to Instagram after the win, Harriman-Annous took to social media to mark the milestone with a photo carousel. Alongside a number of snaps of him in action, he wrote: "What a night.

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"A dream come true to start for Arsenal and a proud moment for me and my family to have made my competitive debut for this amazing club. Thanks to GOD for the opportunity that he has given me. Forever grateful for this opportunity and happy to be in the next round."

A number of the teenager's Arsenal team-mates were quick to congratulate him in the comments section of the post, with Bukayo Saka writing: "Congrats bro," while Max Dowman added: "Family." Rice also said: "Congrats brother," with a red love-heart emoji.

Saliba took a slightly different approach, meanwhile, simply writing: "Rashford," with a couple of heart-eyed emojis. On the face of things, the comment appeared as though the centre-half was comparing the talent to Manchester United legend, Marcus Rashford.

However, his choice may stem back to an old viral video of Harriman-Annous, which showed an interaction in the stands of the Emirates Stadium. In the video, the person recording asked the youngster: "Yo, you are Rashford's brother? You look like Rashford, it's a brother?"

Harriman-Annous then replied: "Yeah," before the cameraman asked what his name was. In a hilarious turn of events, Harriman-Annous called himself 'Andre Rashford' before walking off with a grin on his face.

Elsewhere on the Instagram post, a number of Arsenal players past and present also shared their messages of appreciation for the academy product's feat, with Jack Wilshere, Jurrien Timber and Gabriel in and among the comments.

Arteta was also incredibly positive with his assessment of the attacker's performance against Brighton, praising his mentality in particular. In his post-match press conference, the Spaniard said: "Well, since pre-season when he was with us, I was very impressed with him.

"First of all, his mentality, how much he wants it. That's the first ingredient. He's desperate to achieve his dream. I think he's been very consistent, training with us and constantly giving us the option to pick him.

"I believe today was the right day for him, for the context, for the way he's playing as well. He certainly proved that he's got a chance."

Harriman-Annous wasn't the only academy star to feature in the cup clash on Wednesday evening either, with 15-year-old Dowman also starting under Arteta once more. The winger has featured for the first-team on four occasions this term thus far, bagging two appearances in the Premier League against Leeds and Liverpool, and another two against Port Vale and Brighton in the Carabao Cup.

Speaking about Dowman in his post-match presser, Arteta added: "For him, everything is natural. For him, everything is ok. It's the way he plays. I think that's the secret, that he doesn't make a big fuss of it.

"He just does what he does best, which is to play football, to play football with a lot of courage and determination. Today, again, he's shown some incredible skill, some capacity to run past players at that level in the Premier League at 15. It's something definitely special."