Former Arsenal defender William Gallas raised eyebrows ahead of the North London Derby when he suggested that William Saliba needed to play alongside an experienced centre-back at the Gunners to really develop and improve. Gallas told Genting Casino: "Who is going to be next to you to learn? He’s still young and at this age you need to learn and you need to have the right players next to you.
“At the moment Saliba doesn’t have anyone. When I talk about experienced players, I’m talking about top-class defenders. That’s why I’m a little bit worried for him, If he wants to go to another level he needs to be next to top-class defenders. If we speak about John Terry, who was next to him? Marcel Desailly. Rio Ferdinand? He was next to Vidic."
Saliba is playing alongside 24-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes in a youthful centre-back partnership and Gallas' concern about the Frenchman not learning off an experienced partner would only have increased when Gabriel gave away a penalty in the 3-1 win over Tottenham on Saturday.
