Article paru dans The Athletic. Vivement qu'il joue chez nous, trop hâte de voir ce que ça va donner.
William Saliba is ready for the Premier League — prepare to be ‘dazzled’
Par James McNicholas 26 mai 2020 41
Having spent almost eight months working with William Saliba, Saint-Etienne coach Claude Puel is unequivocal: “He is ready.”
With the French league season now curtailed, Puel is able to reflect on Saliba’s contribution to the campaign. “He is a fantastic player,” Puel tells The Athletic. “He is a young player but with a lot of maturity in his play. Also, in his life. He is a player with a good feeling and spirit.”
That sense of an old head on young shoulders is corroborated by Macky Diong, a journalist for regional newspaper Le Progres. When the move to Arsenal put Saliba in the spotlight, he never shied away. “He is not scared of a challenge,” says Diong. “We had the impression the size of the transfer fee never affected him.
“William is someone who is carefree, who radiates serenity and does not let things go to his head. On the contrary, I think this transfer gave him even more confidence and self-assurance. This season he really seemed impassable.”
Saliba is of course already an Arsenal player, having agreed a long-term contract last summer. He was loaned back to Saint-Etienne, and as of this week Arsenal expect him to remain there until June 30, as per the contract.
If the 2019-20 Premier League extends beyond the end of June, he is unlikely to be available for competitive games. The premature end to the French domestic campaign means that Saliba is one of the few players in European football who will be granted a proper post-season break. Once his obligations with Saint-Etienne officially end, Arsenal can investigate bringing him over to integrate him into training ahead of next season.
“It will be hard for us without him,” admits Puel. “But I think it is a fantastic opportunity for Arsenal. I think they need a good centre-back and have done for some time, and I think William is the right player. I think he can play all the time in the first team at Arsenal.”
“William has been good again this season and has had solid performances,” says Diong. “He was injured for a long time but as soon as he returned, Puel always played him, counted on him and he was one of the best. He progressed in his positioning, his anticipations and his concentration. He makes fewer mistakes and wins almost all of his duels, whether aerial, speed or ground duels. He was the ‘safe bet’ of AS Saint-Etienne this season.”
Diong’s impressive assessment is backed up by the statistics. Saint-Etienne have invariably been a better side when Saliba has been available. Since he made his debut in 2018, the club have a 50 per cent win ratio with him in the team. Without him, that drops to 35 per cent. They concede 1.1 goals per game with Saliba, compared to 1.6 goals without him.
He had a particularly positive impact when he returned to action in September 2019. At that stage, Saint-Etienne had won just one of their opening eight games, conceding in every one. Saliba’s return prompted a seven-match unbeaten run, including four clean sheets, until injury robbed them of his services again. He was back playing at the end of January, but despite his assured performances Saint-Etienne’s defensive struggles continued, and they were caught in a relegation dogfight.
That presumably partially explains why Saliba has been so busy this season. He has made more tackles, interceptions and recoveries than any of Arsenal’s defensive trio of David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi.
Saliba vs. Arsenal's centre-backs
Despite all that activity, Saliba has somehow committed just two fouls in Ligue 1 all season (in 991 minutes of playing time). David Luiz, meanwhile, has managed to concede three penalties on his own. With Mustafi going to ground regularly, and both Luiz and Sokratis conceding fouls in dangerous areas, Saliba’s judicious decision-making could bring some much-needed calmness to the Arsenal backline. Per Mertesacker had that same knack of being positionally astute enough to avoid costly fouls.
“He has good ingredients with the ball too,” says Puel. A passing accuracy of 87.9 per cent is higher than any of Luiz, Sokratis or Mustafi. Only Luiz has a better carry distance per 90, suggesting that Saliba could fit easily into Arteta’s vision of centre-halves progressing the ball from deep.
Saliba’s development places him among the elite of young European defenders. When you assess the centre-halves in Europe aged 21 or under who’ve made at least 10 starts in 2019-20, Saliba again performs impressively — as does his fellow Saint-Etienne academy graduate, Wesley Fofana, who has also been linked with Arsenal. Only RB Leipzig’s highly-prized Dayot Upamecano has made more recoveries per 90. Only Fofana, Dan-Axel Zagadou of Dortmund and Schalke’s Ozan Kabak have won a higher proportion of their duels.
Saliba has only been dribbled past five times this season. It’s the second-best record in his age group in Europe — only fellow Frenchman Zagadou has been beaten fewer times.
Of course, the Premier League could well provide Saliba will a sterner test. A period of adaptation is inevitable. “I think it will necessarily take him a while to get used to a big club like Arsenal and the Premier League,” says Diong. “But I am sure that he will quickly get his bearings and show himself to be at the level, because he has that maturity.”
“It’s a shame he could not finish the season with Saint-Etienne and therefore gain even more experience — and especially play the final of the Coupe de France against PSG. These are the kinds of matches in which he could have shown he was more than just any other player.
“This player has enormous potential and qualities made for the highest level of football.
“In any case, I am not afraid for him,” says Diong. “On the contrary: he will dazzle you!”
(Photo: NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)