Granit Xhaka has singled out Arsenal teammate William Saliba for huge praise and described the young Frenchman as a "proper leader" following his fantastic start to life in North London.
Saliba's Gunners' career has been a turbulent one, especially when you factor in he has only made two competitive appearances for Arsenal despite joining three years ago in the summer of 2019. Three separate loan spells duly followed at Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille respectively.
It was at Marseille last term where Saliba reached new heights, winning the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award for his efforts. Off the back of last season, when the centre-back's stock was at its highest, Arsenal deemed it the perfect time to finally integrate him into the first-team fold.
Saliba immediately showcased why he is held in such high regard despite his relative inexperience with a man of the match display on his debut. Thrown in at the deep end under the lights away at Selhurst Park on the opening night, the 21-year-old played like a man with a point to prove.
Praise from some of the game's biggest names duly followed, with Gary Neville comparing him to Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand. A week later, however, Saliba was brought back down to earth with an own goal on his home debut for the club during the 4-2 win over Leicester City.
The response to the goal was something to behold, with the Emirates faithful loudly cheering Saliba's every touch to show their support in the immediate aftermath. While the France international was likely to have been disappointed with his error, Xhaka waxed lyrical over the other aspects of his game as well as his character.
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"This is football," Xhaka told the Evening Standard. "People only see the own goal but maybe, hopefully, they'll see what a game he had. This guy is 21. I think in his first game in the Premier League for Arsenal, he was unbelievable.
"You can see how… he looks like he is 30. He has discipline and big character. He is not so loud but he is a proper leader in my eyes. You can see he is amazing. He has a lot of quality and yeah, we forget the own goal because for 90 minutes he had a great, great game."
Xhaka's own leadership qualities have earned him a new role at the club, as manager Mikel Arteta has identified the midfielder as one of two deputy leaders to current Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.
The decision marks an impressive turnaround for Xhaka, who was only stripped of the armband himself three years ago for a foul-mouthed outburst at fans as he made his way off the pitch at home against Crystal Palace.
