Chelsea legend Marcel Desailly has now launched some surprising comments about the quality of Arsenal defender William Saliba.
Saliba is regard as one of Arsenal’s most crucial players these days.
Has produced remarkable performances since the start of last season.
However, Desailly is simply not convince.
The former French international was speaking to ‘Get French Football News’ in an exclusive interview and said that Saliba wasn’t above average.
Desailly thought Saliba was playing at a high level but was nothing special for Arsenal.
He said: “Then there is the one at Arsenal too [Saliba] – he hasn’t yet had the game time to adapt to that necessary association.
“I don’t believe his individual qualities to be above average.
“He’s at a very, very high level but not extraordinary.
“So before absorbing the international level, he needs to acclimatise to those associations.
“As things stand I don’t know how to associate him with [Ibrahima] Konate or with [Dayot] Upamecano so that he can excel and develop all the talent that he has in him.”
Desailly thinks Saliba still needs to improve at Arsenal to be ready for France
Of course, to give these comments some context,
It should be remembered that Saliba hasn’t been quite as imperious for his country as he has for his club.
Although the defender has been flawless for Arsenal, some of his France displays have been criticised.
And the likes of Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano have fared better for their country thus far.
However, that doesn’t mean that these comments won’t cause a surprise.
Saliba is having another excellent season for The Gunners and was sorely missed when rested against West Ham United last night.
The defender is now consider as one of Arsenal’s best along with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice.
And although Desailly isn’t fully convince about Saliba, those doubts don’t exist at Arsenal.
One player who is still receiving criticism is Kai Havertz. Despite Arsenal being poor on the whole last night,
Havertz has once again been the player taking a lot of the blame.
