Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has backed William Saliba to forge his own path after the defender was compared to Liverpool great Virgil van Dijk.
Saliba, who returned to Arsenal this summer after spending the past three seasons out on loan, has made a storming start to life in the Premier League.
The centre-back is still only 21, but he has made such an impression at Emirates Stadium that he has already been tipped to possibly emulate Van Dijk one day.
“Saliba is a modern centre-back in the Van Dijk mould,” said former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, writing in the Daily Telegraph.
“He is fast enough to deal with the quickest strikers, aerially strong to cope with target men, and comfortable in possession to ensure his side can play from the back.
“Yes, these are early days and Saliba has a long way to go to match Van Dijk’s long-term influence at Liverpool, but he has had an immediate impact on how structurally sound a previously flaky defence looks.”
Arteta has praised Saliba’s impact this season, but asked if he can be as good as Van Dijk, he said: “Wow, that’s a really big question.
“I am really happy with where he is at the moment. He is Saliba, he’s no-one else and he needs to make his own career.
“The way he (Saliba) has established himself. The composure and leadership he has shown on the pitch. And then that he has done it in a really natural way without any flashing lights, just being himself. He’s very quiet and at the same time very confident.”
Saliba and Van Dijk will go head to head on Sunday as Arsenal host Liverpool at Emirates Stadium. The Gunners are currently sat top of the Premier League and 11 points clear of Jurgen Klopp’s side in ninth.
But Arteta said: “I am very conscious we can get much better than we are today and there are a lot of aspects that we have to do better to be the team we want to be. The challenge now is to do it every three days.
“It is a fixture everyone is looking for against an opponent that has shown in the last five to six years the level that they have.
“We have to show against this opponent that we have raised the level and we are ready to compete against them.
“I am really happy and proud for the change in dynamic and for how the atmosphere and belief around the club feels at the moment. But I’m also looking ahead at what we want to be and we are not there yet.”
