Former Manchester United defender and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has doubled down on comparing Arsenal centre-back William Saliba to ex-United star Rio Ferdinand. The Frenchman impressed on his debut for the Gunners, having made a return from Marseille in the summer.
The 21-year-old spent the previous season on loan with the Ligue 1 outfit, guiding them to second in the division and qualifying for the Champions League once again. Saliba was a particular standout for the side, going on to win the Young Player of the Year for the French league - previously won by the likes of Aurelien Tchouameni and Kylian Mbappe.
There was uncertainty surrounding his place back in the side on his homecoming, given the stability of Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White last season. Despite that, manager Mikel Arteta outlined his trust in the young defender upon his return.
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He backed that up with starting the centre-back in the match against Crystal Palace in the opening Premier League game of the season. This moved White to right-back, allowing the Frenchman to take his usual centre-back role and impress after his loan spells abroad.
He did just that, making a number of impressive blocks and challenges to help the Gunners keep a clean sheet in a challenging 2-0 victory over Palace. It led to Neville comparing the defender with a young Rio Ferdinand, something he doubled down on in his podcast afterwards.
"I referred to it as an early Rio Ferdinand-type performance and how I said that was he reminded me of that. Comfortable on the ball. What Rio Ferdinand had in those early years, if you remember, his body wasn’t quite connected I don’t know how you say this the right way but you know he’ll get more stronger, more wise, you know in three years he’s going to be a hell of a centre-back.
"He’s a hell of a centre-back now but when you see him in another two, three, four years time to play centre-back in the Premier League and I think Crystal Palace is one of the toughest crowds, they ask a lot about you the forwards at Crystal Palace. He did really, really well.
"I said he reminded me of Rio Ferdinand after the game, the development in him, only going to get better. Interesting for Ben White, being pushed out to right-back but that’s the way of the world. Maybe they’ll have to be more compact on that right-hand side."
It remains to be seen if he can continue to impress as the season progresses. However, Arteta has plenty of decisions to make over his defence going forward.
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