Is Arsenal’s Saliba the best centre-back in the world?،
In the voting for the 2019 Ballon d’Or, Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk lost to Barcelona striker Lionel Messi by just seven votes. Even though defenders rarely win this award (Fabio Cannavaro, in 2006, remains the only player to have won it in the last 25 years), the vote taught us what we already knew: that Van Dijk was the best defender center of world football at the time. .
Van Dijk suffered an ACL injury against Everton the following year, and since then no player has made a strong case to be considered the best player in the position. But now a few new names have entered the debate in Europe’s top leagues, among them Arsenal’s William Saliba.
Despite being only 22 years old, in a position group renowned for peaking in the late 20s and requiring experience to perfect, Saliba’s performance levels since his breakthrough at Arsenal during the 2022-23 season suggest he deserves recognition.
But he was not included in the final list of 30 players for this year’s Ballon d’Or – beaten by Manchester City’s Rúben Dias (30th) and Josko Gvardiol (25th), then Kim Min-Jae (22nd) of Bayern Munich – which was again won by Messi.
So, is he the best central defender in the world? And if not, who is?
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)
A rapid rise in power
Saliba may be young, but he is experienced for his age. After making a breakthrough as a teenager in Ligue 1 at Saint-Étienne in 2018, he joined Arsenal for around €30 million a year later, returned to the French club on loan, and further loan spells to Nice and Marseille followed before being loaned out. had the chance to shine at the Emirates last season.
To date, he has played 168 times domestically and recorded 118 full 90-minute matches at the highest level – as well as 10 matches for France since his debut in March 2022 – which is essentially three Premier League seasons. Consider how abnormal this is. Centre-backs usually spend their early years earning their place at a lower level, but Saliba was playing first-team Ligue 1 football at 17.
With all that under his belt, it’s no wonder he came on so easily during the 2022 summer preparatory campaign, wowing everyone following Arsenal’s friendlies. “Ridiculous” was a word frequently used to describe him, and those who didn’t know him would soon find out. In Arsenal’s first Premier League game, a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, Saliba executed a huge sliding tackle on Wilfried Zaha in the penalty area that saw jaws drop in north London.
By Christmas, the rest of the world had taken note: Arsenal were top of the league, and while the signing of left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko and striker Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City was clearly a key factor in that, the The arrival of Saliba was also.
His incredible one-on-one and recovering defense became a weekly treat for fans, and it allowed Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to use a high defensive line and aggressive pressing strategy that overwhelmed opponents . The Frenchman’s incredible calm and mastery over passes played in the channels stood out. Regardless of the opponent, big or small, he would get the ball, calmly turn around and start dribbling in the other direction.
The composure that underlined his play was also astonishing: he handled everything thrown at him with visible ease, rarely appearing tense or tense. Just four bookings in 27 league starts in 2022-23 were another signal that very little could throw him off balance.
But a back injury in March saw him miss the final 11 Premier League games as the title slipped from Arsenal’s hands and into the hands of relentless Manchester City. Without him, everything suffered; Arsenal also couldn’t build from the back, couldn’t play such a high defensive line and suddenly looked vulnerable. His replacement, Rob Holding, struggled and it was clear that Saliba’s absence cost the Gunners dearly.
Fit and healthy again this season, he has played every minute of Arsenal’s Premier League campaign and has yet to be dribbled past – a stat only Liverpool’s Van Dijk can match. With his first three Champions League matches under his belt, Saliba was solid, notably distinguishing himself against Sevilla with his composure in the tackles and then in passing the ball.
The youngster will only get better with experience, but it’s fair to wonder what many Arsenal fans are asking for. Is there anyone better right now?
Nobody is perfect
It is important to recognize that Saliba is not perfect. No player does it, let alone 22 year olds. And while you don’t have to be perfect to be the best at your position, there are some elements missing from his game…and they seem pretty important.
Chief among them is a long raked pass that changes the point of emphasis in a match or frees up teammates behind the opposition. Van Dijk had him in great fanfare, as did Juventus’ Leonardo Bonucci, Bayern Munich’s Jérôme Boateng and Man City’s Aymeric Laporte, and he is still present in Sevilla star Sergio Ramos’ game, even at 37. Ramos and Saliba shared a pitch last week at the Champions League, and every perfect pass played by the former hammered home the fact that this is not a weapon Saliba has at his disposal.
That’s not to say he’s a bad passer – not by any means. His progressive passing (68th percentile across Europe) is good and his short passing is excellent, but something is missing. He’s only in the 11th percentile for long passes attempted (5.69 per 90), and while that may be tactically prescribed by Arteta to some extent, you can see his passes don’t have that motivated nature which distinguishes the greatest players in the world. this field.
Another area where he doesn’t shine is in aerial duels, where he has won an average of 58.4% during his career. As with his long spell, criticism must be tempered as Arsenal’s possession-based style means he is simply not involved in too many of them (just 24 in 10 league matches this season), but historically he has never been a hugely dominant figure in the championship. air.
Due to his age, Saliba is often played alongside a taller, more physically robust partner who has absorbed more of the action – a role Gabriel plays for Arsenal. When Saliba commits, it is at an average level. For context, an aerial win rate of 50% is considered extremely low for a central defender; the best can eclipse the 80% mark (Van Dijk has 73.9%).
Finally, and this one is truly beyond his control, Saliba has no experience ahead of the biggest football tournaments, nor in high-stakes moments. He had never played in the Champions League until this season, injury robbed him of his participation in the Premier League title race last season and he played very few meaningful minutes for France. Whether or not you thought he would flourish on those stages, the reality is that he didn’t get the opportunity, so there’s nothing to say as to whether he did or not.
The competition
Everyone’s list of the best center backs will differ to some extent, but here are five names to compare it to.
Manchester City duo John Stones and Dias are reigning European champions and three-time winners. The former now spends most of his time in midfield, but on paper partners Dias in one of the most impressive defensive units in the world. Gvardiol, who had a fantastic World Cup with Croatia and is quickly finding his rhythm under Pep Guardiola, joins that duo this season. He has a pretty well-rounded skill set that puts him in this conversation – although he shares Saliba’s relative lack of experience to some extent.
Saturdays The classic pitted Barcelona’s Ronald Araújo against Real Madrid’s David Alaba, both of whom are immense presences at the back. Araújo’s physical attributes are off the charts, and he is arguably an even better one-on-one defender than Saliba, but his passing and ball-carrying are nowhere near as fluid. Meanwhile, Alaba is about as smooth as they come (and has two Champions League winners’ medals to show in this debate), but he’s even weaker aerially than Saliba, with a paltry aerial win rate of 47.3% on average since 2017, largely due to being a 5-foot-11 converted left back/center midfielder.
Alaba was moved to center back while at Bayern Munich and was one of, if not the most important player in the 2020 Champions League victory under Hansi Flick. It took them a little time to recover from his departure in 2021, but they could well have found his replacement in Kim Min-Jae, signed this summer from Napoli.
Kim’s mix of physicality and defensive positioning makes him a dominant presence, and he’s also shockingly quick to recover on defense. The only real problem with the South Korea international’s game is that his passing can be a little scruffy; either the ball is not hit cleanly, or short passes are played just behind or towards the receiver with pace, rather than into his path.
What is clear when looking across Europe as a whole is that there is no uniform model of a top centre-back. There is not a certain style or combination of abilities that you must possess to be called “the best.” There is always a compromise somewhere; nobody is perfect.
Maybe that’s why this debate has opened up again – because Van Dijk was practically perfect in 2019 and 2020. He was big, fast, strong, dominated in aerial duels, unbeatable one-on-one, selected with incredible lengths. the scope passes and was ultra-durable, playing in just about every game. There was simply no other player at that level.
