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Gary Neville says Arsenal have a £27m player who is the best in the world right now

Charles Jones

Sat 9 November 2024 19:15, UK

The talent pool at the top-level of world football has perhaps never been deeper.

There are a whole host of world-class players wit💦hin the game, and, as ever, most of the focus is on the incredible attacking talents in the sport.

There are no fewer th෴an 10 attacking players who look capable of contending for the Ballon d’Or th൲is year, and that’s before you even start talking about the game’s incredible defensive talents.

Of course, defenders des𝄹erve their credit too, and there are so many brilliant defenders in the ga✤me at the moment.

Antonio Rudiger has been imperious for Real Madrid for a long time, while Pau Cubarsi looks like a star of the future for Barc𓆉elona.

Speaking to Goal, Gary Neville has been discussing who the best centre-back in the world is now, and💖 he’s named three players from the Premier League as potential options.

• READ MORE: £55m striker des🌌cribed as better than Erling Haaland did not want to join Arsenal because of Kai Havertz

William Saliba is the world’s best defender

Neville was asked to name the best🧜 defender in the world.

The pundit noted that Gabriel Magalhaes and Virgil van Dijk are both doing brilliant things right now.

However, ultimately, Neville decided on Arsenal’s William Saliba as the best defender in the game at the moment.

🌠“Best defender in the world today?” Neville was a🐽sked.

“I think what Gabriel and Saliba a𝔍re doing at Arsenal is pretty good,” Neville said.

“You could still say Van Dijk, but I’m going t﷽o go Salibꦚa.”

Gabriel, Van Dijk and Saliba compared

Gabriel, Sꩲaliba and Van Dijk are three of the best centre-backs on the planet, and statistically, they all t𒁏hrive in different ways.

As you can see, these thre🐻e ཧrepresent three different styles of defending.

Van Dijk’s strength comes in how he reads the game, he’s averaging way more interceptions per game than the Arsenal pairing, while he’s also the most aerially dominant of the 🦹three.

Van Dijk also excels in the passing stats🦩 in a way Saliba and Gabriel don’t.

Meanwhile, Gabriel is the bravest of the trio, he’s blocking way more shots than his peers and he’s never scared to put his body on the line. There’s a reason Ben White recently called Gabriel a ‘scary’ p𒁏🅷layer.

Saliba is the most front-footed of the three defenders, averaging more tackles per gamﷺe than Van Dijk and Gabriel, but that al🔯so leads to more yellow and red cards.

Statistically, on the whole, Van Dijk looks like he may still be the best in the world, but at the age of just 23, Saliba may soon be taking that ti🌜tle from the Liverpool captain as he continues to grow and improve.

Van Dijk recently said that🔴 Sal♈iba is better than he was at the same age, and when all is said and done, the man coul🍒d go down as one of the🦂 best defenders ever.