After Gary Neville compared William Saliba to a 'young Rio Ferdinand' the former Manchester United centre-back has now delivered a brilliant response.
Saliba enjoyed a very successful loan spell at Marseille last season, picking up the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Season award as he proved to be a crucial performer and helped the French side return to the Champions League. The 21-year-old has since impressed upon his return to Arsenal this summer, with the Gunners keeping a clean sheet in each game that Saliba, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White have started in.
Mikel Arteta's side showed character to dig in and earn an impressive 2-0 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last week, with new signings Gabriel Jesus and Zinchenko having an instant impact for Arsenal. Saliba earned the Man of the Match award with his physical stature and assuredness on the ball proving to be a vital asset to the way the Gunners want to play.
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Rio Ferdinand has now delivered a great response to his ex-United teammate's comparison between the French defender and the former United star. Speaking on his Vibe with Five YouTube show, Ferdinand said: "I don’t know if he needed it [Marseille loan], but I think what happened when he went away, it humbled him. He came to Arsenal and you expect to play.
"He was talked about being that good but they went no, get some experience. He was Young Player of the Season in Ligue 1, last season, was phenomenal in that sense, comes back and said 'nah, I’m not going to right-back, Ben White get to right-back, I’m playing centre-half'."
Ferdinand believes the personality and character shown by Saliba to push White to right-back, after the English defender signed for £50million last summer, shows that he is ready to play for the Gunners. "He’s a centre-half (White). Saliba comes back and it takes a personality, a character to go 'right I’m here' and plays," the BT Sport pundit added.
"Listen, he had a good game. It's the first game of the season, Palace is a hard place to go but you have the right to reserve judgement."
Saliba's next test comes against Leicester at the weekend, with the north Londoners looking to make it two wins from two after failing to pick up a victory in their opening three games last term.
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