Garth Crooks has now claimed that Arsenal’s William Saliba reminds him of Sol Campbell following his performance against Manchester City.
The pundit mentioned the Saliba comparison in his ‘Team of the Week’ article on the BBC.
Crooks claimed that Saliba dealt with Erling Haaland with no issues and had a similar presence to Campbell at Arsenal.
He said: “Once again the steadying influence of William Saliba in defence for the Gunners is proving invaluable.
“The atmosphere at Emirates Stadium was as tense as I have known it against Manchester City and yet Saliba was as cool as ice and appeared to handle Erling Haaland without any trouble at all.
“I rate Saliba as highly as I rated Sol Campbell. The France international has the same kind of presence in defence as the former England man and is just as quick.”
And of all of the praise Saliba has enjoyed since Sunday, Crook’s comparison to Campbell might be the loftiest.
Bukayo Saka was also very impressed with his French teammate, who was actually playing through injury.
Crooks says Saliba has a calming presence like Campbell at Arsenal
Of course, it’s hard to disagree with Crooks.
Gabriel Magalhaes has improved immensely since playing alongside Saliba, as has the whole back line.
In a similar fashion to Declan Rice, the 22-year-old has raised the levels of those around him with his standards.
And Mikel Arteta may now be quietly confident of mounting a serious title challenge if his key men can stay fit.
Crooks will probably agree with Saliba’s own statement that Arsenal could have won the league last season were it not for his injury.
But Arsenal will now hope that they are better equipped to deal with any unexpected issues after a productive summer.
Even with players missing yesterday, Arteta’s side were able to demonstrate their resilience against a world-class side.