Thierry Henry: 'William Saliba is the best defender in the Premier League, by a mile. The way he can defend a 1v1, the way he allows Arsenal to stay higher [up the pitch] and defend the 45-50 yards behind him is second to none.
'His speed, the way he recovers, and when he recovers the ball he doesn’t just kick it into the stands - he tries to get it back [to his team-mates] which is important.
‘He went on loan [to Marseille] and he came back and he showed everybody that that was a mistake and now he’s now the best defender in the league.’
I’m still amazed and often surprised how good this guy is.
Considerng how young he is, and looking at his athletic attributes, often I expect him to just try dominate attackers using sheere athleticism, maybe being a bit rush in the tackles and stuff like that.
But no. He always waits for the right moment to make the tackle and takes the ball aways so easily and smoothly, like nothing.
He rarely goes into a (physical) fight with an attacker, the timing and inteligence is always in the first plan.
Unreal what a defender he is. Obviously he’s a huge natural talent, but also I think who ever coached him when he was younger should get some kind of award.
If he contiues like this he’s a very strong candidate for the PL player of the season.
I think it was between the 90th and 91st minute where he showed supreme composure. He somehow manages to create space for himself while there’s chaos occurring all around him.
Rarely have we had any top class defenders since the Emirates era started.
Saliba surely has to be the best defender we have signed since moving to the Emirates? Vermaelen (especially first season/Kosh) I’d put as 2nd and 3rd. This is centre backs only.
'William Saliba is the best defender in the Premier League, by a mile. The way he can defend a 1v1, the way he allows Arsenal to stay higher [up the pitch] and defend the 45-50 yards behind him is second to none.
