William Saliba may well be Arsenal’s most important player.
Yes, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard are more talented on a technical level, but in terms of how this team operates, Saliba is the Gunners’ main man.
The Frenchman is Mikel Arteta’s rock at the back, and speaking on ESPN, Steve Nicol has been full of praise for the centre-half.
Nicol argued as one of his colleagues left Saliba out of his Team of the Season so far, and he argued that Saliba has been much better than Virgil van Dijk this term, claiming that he hasn’t made a mistake in three years dating back to his loan spells in Ligue 1.
Saliba faultless
Nicol gave his verdict on the £27m man.
“He’s not put in Saliba. He’s not put a foot wrong for three years. I know he was injured at the end of last year, but before that he was the best centre-back in the Premier League, and I would argue that it’s between him and Van de Ven who’s the best this year as well. Van Dijk has had a decent start, but there’s no way you put him ahead of Saliba, not a chance,” Nicol said.
What a player
Nicol is absolutely right, Saliba has been almost faultless in recent years.
Of course, he wasn’t in the spotlight as much when he was in France, but since making his Premier League debut, it’s hard to remember a single game where he hasn’t been utterly dominant.
Virgil van Dijk held the crown as the best centre-back in the Premier League for a long time, but now, it would seem as though Saliba is the top dog in that department.
Arsenal are very lucky to have Saliba, and the scary part is that he’s only 22 years old.