'He is one of the best': Jermaine Jenas amazed by Arsenal player after what he did at Euro 2024

Jermaine Jenas was amazed by what one Arsenal player did in his Euro 2024 appearance on Friday, insisting that there is no-one better at that particular skill.

Unsurprisingly, it appears that a number of Arsenal stars are on course to go a long way in Germany this summer, with Mikel Arteta’s side establishing themselves as one of the best teams on the continent, particularly in the last two years.

Certainly, the likes of Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba are amongst those who appear to have more than one foot in the knockout stages with their respective nations.

France, like England, are yet to produce their best football at Euro 2024, but they kept another clean sheet on Friday as they drew with Netherlands.

Jermaine Jenas lauds William Saliba during France draw

As shown by Whoscored, Saliba completed 85 out of 86 passes in the stalemate. But there was one moment in the first-half which really stood out as he did superbly in a one-on-one against Jeremie Frimpong.

Speaking on BBC One (broadcast on 21/6; 20:37), Jermaine Jenas was full of praise for how easy Saliba seemed to make dealing with the situation look.

“He is one of the best in the business at that, William Saliba, in a one v one situation. Stays on his feet all the time. Doesn’t panic,” he said.

Arsenal star one of the classiest defenders around

It is Paolo Maldini who is often quoted as saying that he only ever had to make a tackle if he had already made a mistake, and Saliba may be someone who echoes that sentiment.

His partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes at Arsenal works so well because Gabriel is the warrior of the pair, often doing the dirty side of the game while Saliba reads the play so supremely well.

According to FBRef, Saliba is in the bottom 15 percent for tackles made by centre-backs across all five of Europe’s top leagues over the last year.

After a while, players like that start to develop an aura; that feeling that you are going to have to do something incredibly special to actually get the better of them.

Frimpong was unable to win that duel on Friday, but he will certainly not be the last player at this tournament to wonder how exactly they are going to beat the Arsenal man.