Gary Neville says Arsenal have a £27m player who is the best in the world right now
The talent pool at the top-level of world football has perhaps never been deeper. There are a whole host of world-class players within the game,...
The talent pool at the top-level of world football has perhaps never been deeper.
There are a whole host of world-class players within the game, and, as ever, most of the focus is on the incredible attacking talents in the sport.
There are no fewer than 10 attacking players who look capable of contending for the Ballon d’Or this year, and that’s before you even start talking about the game’s incredible defensive talents.
Ballon d’Or contenders Games Goals Assists Mohamed Salah 16 9 9 Robert Lewandowski 16 19 2 Erling Haaland 14 14 0 Viktor Gyokeres* 16 23 2 Vinicius Jr 11 9 4 Harry Kane 14 17 6 Cole Palmer 10 7 5 Raphinha 17 12 8 Kylian Mbappe 14 7 2 Lamine Yamal 16 6 8
Of course, defenders deserve their credit too, and there are so many brilliant defenders in the game at the moment.
Antonio Rudiger has been imperious for Real Madrid for a long time, while Pau Cubarsi looks like a star of the future for Barcelona.
Speaking to Goal, Gary Neville has been discussing who the best centre-back in the world is now, and he’s named three players from the Premier League as potential options.
William Saliba is the world’s best defender
Neville was asked to name the best defender in the world.
The pundit noted that Gabriel Magalhaes and Virgil van Dijk are both doing brilliant things right now.
However, ultimately, Neville decided on Arsenal’s William Saliba as the best defender in the game at the moment.
“Best defender in the world today?” Neville was asked.
“I think what Gabriel and Saliba are doing at Arsenal is pretty good,” Neville said.
“You could still say Van Dijk, but I’m going to go Saliba.”
Gabriel, Van Dijk and Saliba compared
Gabriel, Saliba and Van Dijk are three of the best centre-backs on the planet, and statistically, they all thrive in different ways.
2024/25 stats* William Saliba Gabriel Magalhaes Virgil van Dijk Games 9 10 10 Clean sheets 3 3 5 Goals 0 2 1 Assists 0 0 1 Yellow cards 2 1 1 Red cards 1 0 0 Interceptions per game 0.8 0.6 2 Blocks per game 0.2 1.5 1 Tackles per game 2.7 0.7 0.6 Aerial duels won per game 1.6 1.8 3.7 Passes per game 55.6 52.7 80.3 Successful Long balls per game 1.8 2 4.2
As you can see, these three represent three different styles of defending.
Van Dijk’s strength comes in how he reads the game, he’s averaging way more interceptions per game than the Arsenal pairing, while he’s also the most aerially dominant of the three.
Van Dijk also excels in the passing stats in a way Saliba and Gabriel don’t.
Meanwhile, Gabriel is the bravest of the trio, he’s blocking way more shots than his peers and he’s never scared to put his body on the line. There’s a reason Ben White recently called Gabriel a ‘scary’ player.
Saliba is the most front-footed of the three defenders, averaging more tackles per game than Van Dijk and Gabriel, but that also leads to more yellow and red cards.
Statistically, on the whole, Van Dijk looks like he may still be the best in the world, but at the age of just 23, Saliba may soon be taking that title from the Liverpool captain as he continues to grow and improve.
Van Dijk recently said that Saliba is better than he was at the same age, and when all is said and done, the £27m man could go down as one of the best defenders ever.
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