William Saliba has grown from strength to strength since his loan move to Olympique Marseille this summer, and the Arsenal centre-back has now passed the ultimate test in French football against PSG.
The defender kept a clean sheet as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe all started on the night. As per WhoScored, Saliba made 1 clearance, 1 interception and 5 ground duels. As well as an excellent last-ditch tackle to save Marseille a point.
Against some of the best attackers in world football and arguably the greatest of all time, Saliba looked imperious. And it was another reminder that Mikel Arteta has to give the 20-year-old centre-back a chance at Arsenal next summer.
Indeed, even with Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White forming a solid centre-back partnership together, Saliba has earned a right to test the foundations of this defensive duo and make a claim for himself.
The 20-year-old was labelled a ‘monster’ by his French youth coach as per the Daily Mail. And Arsenal will be doing a disservice to Saliba if they once again shunned away from his obvious talents.
Unai Emery signed the youngster for a hefty fee back in 2019. Yet since then, the defender has not played a single minute of first-team football in a professional fixture for Arsenal. Yet with Marseille, and against PSG, Saliba is proving his worth, and then some.
Marseille loan has been the making of Saliba, now Arsenal have to capitalise
The centre-back’s impressive display for Marseille against PSG should be a huge wake-up call for Arteta over the future of Saliba. With a defender so young shining that much against some of the best attackers in the world, you know you have a serious talent on your hands.
Even with Arsenal’s centre-backs currently impressing for the first time in years, Saliba’s talent and potential is too much to simply be ignored by Arteta, who has a once in a generation player on his hands.
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