Former Arsenal defender William Gallas has shared his thoughts on the hype surrounding William Saliba, stating that the young centre-back is far from being considered world-class at this point.
The young player has had a transformative impact, and his performances during his first full season at Arsenal nearly helped the team win the league title.
This season, he has continued to demonstrate that he is one of the best players in the world, and he is a significant factor in why the Gunners are considered contenders for the league title.
Saliba also frequently represents the France national team, although he has yet to establish himself as a regular in the national squad.
While the defender is undoubtedly considered a top talent, he is consistently proving on the pitch that he is one of the best in England.
However, Gallas said, as quoted by the Daily Mail:
‘Let’s calm down about William Saliba!
‘That’s a problem with the modern media, and discussion like this isn’t good for the players. Some of them can’t deal with that pressure.
‘I like Saliba, and I think he’s a really good player, but as far as I’m concerned, the best defenders in the world have to play in their national teams and be a constant in their starting XI.
‘Saliba isn’t a starter for France yet, but when he’s in the line-up and he’s performing as well as he does at club level, then we can discuss him being the world’s best defender.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
Saliba has been in terrific form since he earned a place on our team last season and we can all understand why some people believe he is a world-class player.
But we hope that hype does not get to him and start affecting his performance for us.
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Am in agreement with Gallas, the kid is not there yet
He might be, it’s just too early. He needs a body of work but he’s on the right track imo.
Hes better than gallas who used to 😭😭😭😭😭
I will tell you why GALLAS is profoundly wrong. The Prem league is widely regarded as the very best league around SALIBA is right now, without serious doubt, the single best CB in the Prem.
How such a supreme defender, well proven in the worlds toughest league can be foolishly denounced as NOT being World Class, is plainly a nonsense opinion. And GALLAS is talking through his hat. PLAINLY!!
Prem league football, taken as a whole, is far superior to most international football and most national teams, many of whom are really poor.
I believe Gallas was a regular French international who played in the PL and won many titles / honours during his career.
I don’t agree with his opinion that a player has to be a full international for a long period in order to be seen as world class….I give you George Armstrong and Peter Simpson as examples of players who were unlucky enough to have played at a time when England had a plethora of great players and these two were unable to become international players.
As for pressure, Saliba has been under that since he signed for the club.
Pressure to prove himself while on loan, pressure to come back from a long term injury, pressure playing for The Arsenal.
Sorry William, I disagree with your assessments on how to judge a world class player and Saliba has proven his talent without the help of the media… just ask Haaland.
👍ken
Personally I don’t give flying fig about what others think of William Saliba, how they rate him and whether he is selected for his National team or not. As Ken said above Arsenal has excellent players in winning teams, who have not been selected for their respective countries.
What concerns me is how Saliba performs game by game for the Arsenal. Given his current performance level relative to other EPL CB’s (as pointed out by jon fox) and his potential for improvement, I am happy he is an Arsenal player.
If you can silence Haaland for 90 mins, you must be some genius. In my opinion, being a regular starter in a particular team comes with time together in training with teammates. WS is moving in the right direction
Saliba is performing at the top level though that should be undisputed, and we’ll also see how he gets on in the CL. Winning some silverware will go a long way in shutting up the opposition