Why Nathan Saliba could be CanMNT's big breakout player at the 2026 World Cup
Who could be the big breakout star to watch for the CanMNT at the 2026 World Cup?
At this stage, it remains too early to tell who will emerge as the biggest success story from this tournament from a Canadian perspective, but one name to watch is Nathan Saliba, who is putting the finishing touches on an excellent 2025-2026 club campaign in Belgium, as shown by his most recent goal this past weekend in a match vs. K.V. Mechelen.
Nathan Saliba finds the back of the net for Anderlecht vs KV Mechelen with a sweet finish 🎯#JupilerProLeague | #CANMNT | @CANMNT_Official | @rscanderlecht | @DAZNFootball | @DAZN_BENL | @daznbe pic.twitter.com/TTbqC5fhOm
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) May 18, 2026
With the timing of the goal, which came not long after reports had emerged that teams in the Bundesliga, Premier League and Serie A were keeping close tabs on Saliba, it feels like his name has been thrust into the spotlight a bit more as of late, which is more than deserved based on how the last 18 months have gone for him.
🚨 Freiburg have Canadian international midfielder Nathan Saliba high on their list for the summer window.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 17, 2026
One to watch very closely with clubs in Italy and England also interested, part of Canada squad at the World Cup next month. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/hMDJ0JSAYh
Having moved to Belgian side R.S.C. Anderlecht last summer from CF Montréal, the 22-year-old midfielder has done well to hit the ground running at his new club, already featuring 43 times in 2025-2026, with still two games to go. Not only that, but he’s played a significant role in those games, too, already racking up 2936 minutes, as he looks likely to crest the 3000-minute landmark barring something unforeseen occurring in those last two games.
For someone who had never hit 2000 minutes during a season with CF Montréal, that helps give an idea of the sort of level he’s hit for Anderlecht, and the level of trust they’ve had in the newcomer since his arrival.
That was shown when they immediately thrust him into action as they tackled UEFA Europa League and Conference League qualifiers last summer, playing him in two Europa League qualifying matches and three Conference League matches (although they unfortunately missed out on Europe), before quickly pushing him to feature in Jupiler Pro League action when that league kicked off at the end of July.
He didn’t start matches right away - he started four out of a possible 10 games for Anderlecht during July and August - but eventually, he found a regular role, one that has allowed him to start 34 out of those 43 games that he’s featured in for his club, including 26 JPL games (five of those being in the playoffs) and six Croky Cup games (he featured in all but 11 minutes of Anderlecht’s run to the final of that tournament, where they lost to Union St-Gilloise).
That’s been great to see, as there were always worries that Saliba might take time to adjust to life in a new league, but he’s instead proven to be a seamless fit, as further shown by the fact that he’s already scored five goals and added two assists in his debut season in Belgium (all competitions) - for context, he scored two goals and added one assist in 78 appearances with Montréal.
🇨🇦 | Eerste balcontact, eerste goal: wat een droomdebuut voor Nathan Saliba! 💭🟣 #ANDWES
— DAZN België (@DAZN_BENL) July 28, 2025
Bekijk de hoogtepunten van de #JPL gratis in de DAZN-app! 📲 pic.twitter.com/LO8dPoZIeV
At his new club, he’s featured more as an all-action box-to-box midfielder, and he’s made the most of that chance to play in a more aggressive role. That’s key, because sometimes with Montréal, he was asked to fill a multitude of roles in midfield, including playing as more of a true #6 and as a box-to-box midfielder, sometimes struggling to find his feet in those various roles.
Eventually, he settled into a similar box-to-box role for Montréal at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, which allowed him to hit another level, leading him to start earning call-ups to the CanMNT and then eventually this Anderlecht move, but there was still a feeling that he was just scratching the surface of his potential despite all of that.
So far, what he’s shown in Belgium has proven that, which is exciting to see from a Canadian perspective, given how good he’s already been with his new club.
To that point, though, it’s interesting to look at his numbers this season, which help show how impactful he’s been for Anderlecht. For example, while his goalscoring figures stand out, given that he hadn’t ever been this prolific for Montréal, they’re not actually that shocking to see.
😳 | Alweer een doelpunt in minuut 1️⃣! 🔥🟣
— DAZN België (@DAZN_BENL) February 12, 2026
Bekijk #ANTAND GRATIS in de DAZN-app! 📲 pic.twitter.com/mTxUIrSbhJ
The reason for that, however, is that he’s averaging an impressive 1.93 shots per 90 minutes for Anderlecht, generating 0.15 xG per 90 - meaning that his goalscoring rate of 0.14 goals per 90 is right in line with what he’s expected to produce based on those numbers.
For a box-to-box midfielder, those shot-generation numbers, in particular, are quite impressive, and they show how involved he’s been offensively, as he’s also generated 1.54 touches in the box per 90 minutes, doing a good job of getting up the field when needed. At the end of the day, if you get into good areas of the pitch, good things happen, and Saliba’s showing that. 
Here's Saliba's shot map from this season - as seen here, he's been a pretty willing shooter from all over the pitch, which impacts his shot quality, but he does a good job of generating attempts from dangerous areas (WyScout)
Along with his solid passing figures - he’s averaging 39 passes per game (at a 79.9% clip), 3.42 long passes (57.4% clip), 6.53 passes to the final third (73.4% clip) and 1.82 passes into the box (56.9% clip) - that’s all been good to see. Otherwise, he’s had solid dribbling numbers, attempting 1.77 dribbles per 90 (57.1% clip), and has had decent chance generation numbers, generating 0.07 xA on 0.59 key passes per 90, showing that he’s been pretty complete offensively, even if he’ll feel he has another level to hit in terms of chance creation, more specifically.
Yet, there’s no reason why that can’t be the next step of his evolution as a player. With his technical ability, he has the quality to be impactful offensively, which is why it hasn’t been as surprising to see him break out a bit as a goalscorer this year. While he wasn’t prolific offensively with Montréal, the few goals and the lone assist he had all came from high-quality actions that showcased what Saliba can do with the ball in the right circumstances.
Nathan Saliba to Josef Martínez 🤌
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 22, 2024
📺 #MLSSeasonPass: https://t.co/BvxsVSastz pic.twitter.com/REdzFJrhbB
THE TURN & CURL 😱
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 19, 2024
Nathan Saliba with an absolute stunner to tie it. pic.twitter.com/EK0rTbNcY1
Further to that, he also showcased similar technical skills on the two goals he scored for Canada, which both came at the Gold Cup last summer, so he’s been slowly building up that side of his game for a while now.
GOAL 🇨🇦x6
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 18, 2025
NATHAN SALIBA, TAKE A BOW ⭐️
The #CFMTL midfielder, linked to Anderlecht 🇧🇪, scores his first #CanMNT goal to make it 6-0 vs. Honduras 🤯
🔴 Watch Gold Cup on OneSoccer & TSN pic.twitter.com/rV3hdT83tE
Because of that, it feels like he could take a big step forward as a chance creator over the next few years, much like he has as a goalscorer.
GOAL 🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 21, 2025
NATHAN SALIBA opens the scoring for Canada with a first-time shot off a free-kick 🤩
SET PIECES EH 👀
🔴 Watch #CanMNT LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/70OjZYlrdB
When seeing the way he can switch play with both feet, one can only imagine channelling that passing ability to start generating assists more regularly going forward, as he certainly has the quality to be dangerous both in open play and on set-pieces.
Before then, however, it can’t be forgotten that a big part of his role as a box-to-box midfielder involves the work he does at the other end of the pitch, too. Especially given that Anderlecht often play in a 4-2-3-1, with Saliba sitting in the double pivot, he has to make sure to be very involved defensively to earn minutes. 
Here's Saliba's heatmap from this season, showing the sort of ground he covers in matches, as he's all over the midfield (WyScout)
To his credit, though, he’s continued to improve that side of his game, building on a process that really started for him in 2025 with Montréal.
So far with Anderlecht, he’s averaging 3.92 interceptions and 8.57 recoveries per 90, and is contesting 19.28 duels (at a 49.9% clip), including three aerial duels (37.4% clip), 7.43 defensive duels (62.3% clip), showing that he’s been quite the active defender.
As seen with his duel rates, he’s still looking to get stronger in that area of his game, although it’s incredibly encouraging to see the volume at which he contests duels, which proves that he’s showing a desire to get stuck in defensively. Ultimately, he’ll hopefully continue to get better at duels as he develops, especially when considering that his interception and recovery numbers suggest that he’s showing good defensive intelligence to help snuff out plays before they fully develop.
It's worth noting that his aggression has come at a cost - he's accumulated a whopping 14 yellow cards this season (including a red card for a pair of yellow cards), which is something he'll want to rein in, even if it's been encouraging to see Saliba's development into a much more aggressive defensive player.
Certainly, you have to imagine that the CanMNT’s head coach, Jesse Marsch, will be full of praise for Saliba when looking at some of those defensive metrics, as that’ll be exactly what he wants to see from the young midfielder (yellow cards aside... mostly). It can’t be forgotten that Saliba’s improvements defensively all started after he earned a CanMNT call-up in the fall of 2024, as he’s done extremely well to respond to the demands Marsch placed on him to be more aggressive on that side of his game, something he had struggled with earlier in his career. 
Yet, to stick with Marsch and this Canadian side, all of that shows why Saliba could be a good bet to be a breakout star this summer. With his continued growth over the past 18 months, he comes into the World Cup in a good position, one that could allow him to really shine at this tournament. 
Here's how Saliba stacks up to his midfield peers in the Belgian league - he's been an elite shooter and goalscorer, and otherwise has been a very strong ball progresser, and defender. Otherwise, he'll want to improve his chance generation and shot quality (WyScout)
He might not start a game at the World Cup, as he enters this tournament as the first backup for Canada’s preferred midfield duo of Ismaël Koné and Stephen Eustáquio, but he’ll definitely feature - he’s played in Canada’s 11 of their last 14 games, after all, starting seven of them, showing that Marsch hasn’t been shy to turn to him if needed.
For example, with Saliba’s form, could that push Marsch to include him alongside Koné and Eustáquio in a 4-2-3-1, given Saliba’s familiarity with that formation, and Koné’s ability to play as a more #10? Marsch has liked to stick with his preferred 4-2-2-2 for most of his tenure with Canada, but with the form and health of some of his strikers (Cyle Larin aside), he could be tempted to switch to a 4-2-3-1 at the World Cup, and Saliba’s excellent form will only help make such a decision more realistic to see occur.
And even if Marsch doesn’t attempt a formation switch, with Eustáquio’s recent health woes, and the possibility of injuries and suspensions, it feels like Saliba will have a prominent role to play off the bench, either way.
Because of that, keep an eye on Saliba this summer. Considering that he’ll only be 26 at the 2030 World Cup, he’ll have a big role to play for this Canadian team over the next couple of years and beyond, but this summer could be the breakout moment he needs to show that he’s ready to step up and assume a bigger role in Canada’s midfield going forward.
What he showed at the Gold Cup last summer shows that he’s already comfortable playing for Canada in a tournament environment - perhaps, what he showed in that competition could prove to be a bit of a premonition for what he hopes to accomplish this summer.
With big European clubs circling, as they look to swoop up and nab what they hope is the next big Canadian talent to emerge from the Belgian league (after Jonathan David, Tajon Buchanan and hopefully soon Promise David), this stretch could be massive for Saliba, and for good reason.
Given his technical level, age and what he's done in Belgium, there's no reason why he can't find himself in the top five leagues in the next few years, helping establish himself as a Canadian regular for the foreseeable future.
