Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk is still the best central defender around, and Arsenal’s William Saliba isn’t even close.
That’s according to former England centre-back Michael Dawson. Speaking to Sky Sports, Dawson was asked to decide whether the Liverpool man or Saliba is the better player.
“I think Virgil is the best around, I think he’s magnificent,” said the pundit. “But what Saliba has done this year, he’s like a new signing. Mikel Arteta gave a young player an opportunity and has he grabbed it with both hands? Wow! [But] He’s got to do it consistently for a lot of years to get to Van Dijk’s level.
“I’ll take Virgil Van Dijk all the time, massive fan. Saliba’s got a lot of work to do to get to there. He’s only young, he’s only going to get better with age.”
No comparison, Virgil is still the king
To be quite frank, it’s somewhat insulting to what Van Dijk has achieved in the game for this question to be seriously asked.
Saliba is flavour of the month having made a strong start to his Premier League career. He has been a constant for Arsenal so far, scoring twice in eight games.
But to compare him to Van Dijk is utterly ludicrous.
This is a player who was a handful of votes away from winning the Ballon d’Or in 2019. A PFA Player of the Year winner who transformed a team from almost-men to a sure thing.
To genuinely mention Saliba in the same breath as Van Dijk is to seriously downplay just how good the Dutch captain is and has been.
The 31-year-old may not be at his best right now, but that doesn’t undo four-and-a-half years of excellence at Liverpool.
Just as Saliba is in a rich vein of form, Van Dijk is in a little downturn. But while Liverpool’s No.4 has proved himself against the elite of the Premier League and Europe, the Arsenal man is yet to be seriously tested in his short Premier League career.
It must be noted that the 21-year-old did excel for Marseille last season. He won the French Young Player of the Year award, and he is a seriously impressive prospect. But right now, and probably forever, he isn’t touching Virgil’s legacy.
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