Arsenal Ace William Saliba Ranks Top 3 Defenders In England

Arsenal star William Saliba has ranked the top three defenders in the Premier League, admitting that they are “better” than him for now but he hopes to one day surpass all of them.

William Saliba ranks the top three Premier League defenders

Despite still only being 22 years old, and having only played one season in England’s top flight, the French centre-back has already established himself as one of the best players in the country.

After all, this was proven by the fact that he was one of four Gunners to make the 2022/23 PFA’s Premier League Team of the Year; alongside Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.

This impressive feat is made all the more impressive as just the season before that, Saliba was named as named the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year after his fine loan spell with Marseille.

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Having proven himself in two of Europe’s strongest leagues now, there aren’t many defenders in the game with a better reputation than the Arsenal ace at this moment in time.

However, Saliba has accepted that there are three defenders in the Premier League who are currently better than him. What’s more, he has ranked those players.

Indeed, while speaking on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, he was asked by host Adam Smith to put in order Virgil van Dijk, Thiago Silva and Ruben Dias from best to worst.

The Arsenal star said at this moment in time: “Right now, honestly, it’s Ruben Dias [first]. But van Dijk normally, for me, is the best in the last four years, he was the best in the world. But for me, in the last season or even two seasons ago, it was Ruben Dias.”

Indeed, he placed the Liverpool icon behind the Manchester City star, saying: “Van Dijk second,” before moving on to put Chelsea’s veteran in third – although he did point out that over the whole course of his career, Silva is potentially the best.

He explained: “Thiago Silva, if you took all of his career, it’s him because he was so good for such a long time. But right now I think it’s Ruben Dias [first], Van Dijk [second] and Thiago Silva [third].”

He then elaborated on his choice of putting Dias in first, stating: “I think in the world for the last season, he was the best for me.”

After this, Saliba also noted that he hoped to one day surpass all the defenders even though he still had work to do to reach their level, saying: “Right now, they are better than me, but I hope one day I will be better than all of them.”

What age is Saliba?

Born 24 March 2001, the French defender is still only 22 years old and with Dias (26) the youngest of the three centre-backs in question, Saliba has plenty of time to reach their level.

Truth be told, he hasn’t even got much experience for Arsenal, having only played 37 times for the club in all competitions. Still, when you see him play, you could be forgiven for thinking he’s been a part of Mikel Arteta’s plans for a number of years.

It will be interesting to see how Saliba and his teammates get on this season, especially after they came so close to winning the Premier League last term. If the defender can help bring glory to the Emirates he would no doubt cement his status as one of the game’s top defenders.