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Granit Xhaka has been left impressed with William Saliba and has backed the Arsenal youngster to shine in his debut season.
THE LOWDOWN: STRONG START FOR SALIBA
William Saliba has enjoyed a positive start to his competitive career at Arsenal, having made two Premier League starts already.
The Frenchman made the best possible start to his Premier League career by claiming the man-of-the-match award at Selhurst Park in a 2-0 victory where he was simply flawless.
With Takehiro Tomiyasu still out injured and Ben White forced to feature at right back, Saliba was handed another start against Leicester City. An unfortunate sequence in the second half saw the Frenchman score an own-goal but Arsenal ultimately won at Emirates in a 4-2 scoreline.
Besides the own goal, the 21-year-old barely put in a wrong shift and that was summed up by the reaction from Arsenal fans, which even surprised head coach Mikel Arteta.
Just recently, Jamie O’Hara was forced to take back his words at Saliba after seeing his recent displays and the latest praise for the Frenchman has now come from an influential figure in the Arsenal dressing room.
THE LATEST: XHAKA BACKS ‘AMAZING SALIBA
William Saliba has impressed Granit Xhaka after his blistering start to his Arsenal career. Though the own goal against Leicester brought in some criticism, the new Arsenal deputy captain is unfazed and believes that the Gunners have a new star in their ranks.
“This is football,” Xhaka said when asked about Saliba’s own goal, as per the Evening Standard.
“People only see the own goal but maybe, hopefully, they’ll see what a game he had. This guy is 21. I think in his first game in the Premier League for Arsenal, he was unbelievable.
“You can see how… he looks like he is 30. He has discipline and big character. He is not so loud but he is a proper leader in my eyes. You can see he is amazing. He has a lot of quality and yeah, we forget the own goal because for 90 minutes he had a great, great game.”
THE VERDICT: MUCH-NEEDED BACKING
Just like the fans did, it is great to see another player rally around Saliba, especially when it is an influential member in the Arsenal squad.
Xhaka is not the first teammate to heap praise on the Frenchman, with Sambi Lokonga also left in awe after watching him in training.
Tomiyasu is now fully fit and available for selection and it would be interesting to see what Arteta decides in terms of his back four. Saliba has shown he is first-team quality but it is also evident that he still has much to learn as well.
Regardless, Arsenal have a star on their hands and still only 21, Saliba’s ceiling for potential looks rather promising.
