Arsenal defender William Saliba has claimed that he’s ‘starting to’ possess the same ‘aura’ that one of his Liverpool counterparts has displayed for years.
The 23-year-old believes that he’s gradually growing into the same leadership traits that the Reds captain has shown in abundance, saying: “I’m not the guy who talks a lot, but I talk more and more. I’m making progress on that. In defence at Arsenal, I am one of the leaders.
“Van Dijk has aura, for example. He’s the boss, he’s in charge of everything. You feel he scares the attackers. But I’m starting to feel the same way. I’m starting to see that attackers feel fear. Sometimes when players are in your area, they don’t have fun.
“When there’s a one-on-one and the player goes back, takes out the ball, runs away from the duel, it’s fun!”
Some Liverpool and Arsenal fans on social media readily indulge in championing their own team’s players by finding statistics or clips to compare them favourably to their rivals’ counterpart, and the Saliba/Van Dijk one-upmanship has frequently done the rounds online.
In truth, they can both lay claim to being among the best exponents in their position in the Premier League right now, having enjoyed excellent individual seasons.
The Frenchman is among the best ball-playing centre-backs in Europe, as evidenced by figures from FBref, but he falls short when it comes to aerial duel success, a trait for which the Reds captain is renowned.
Saliba has the makings of an outstanding defender, but in order to reach Van Dijk’s level he’ll need to perform with consistent excellence for a number of seasons.
Still, to be fair to the Arsenal man, he’s honed in on the perfect role model to try and emulate, and the duo will go head-to-head once more when Netherlands take on France at Euro 2024 on 21 June.
