Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Arsenal’s title win last season was largely built from their incredible defence.
Indeed, the Gunners were impenetrable for most of last season, David Raya won the Golden Glove once again, and Arsenal conceded the fewest goals of any team in the Premier League.
Of course, that was largely down to their incredible centre-back partnership of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes. Saliba received tons of praise last season, while Magalhaes was lauded for his efforts too.
There’s been plenty of debate around which player is better between Saliba and Gabriel, and now, speaking to Aaron Cikaya on TikTok, former Arsenal captain, William Gallas, has shared his view on this debate.
William Gallas shares Gabriel vs William Saliba verdict
Gallas was playing a game where he rated some of the best defenders in the world against one another.
Inevitably, it came to the point where Gallas was asked to pick between Saliba and Gabriel.
“Wow, what a question. Very difficult to answer that question to be honest. They play together you know? For me they are the best central partnership in the Premier League. I like William Saliba, he’s a French guy, I like him. But I always said something about him, for him to go to the last level he has to score more goals. And that’s what Gabriel did, so I will go with Gabriel,” Gallas said.
Of course, scoring goals isn’t a centre-back’s primary job, but it certainly does help when you have a defender who can pop up with an important goal.
Gabriel has become the master of scoring big goals in big moments in recent years, and, unfortunately, Saliba just doesn’t have that same trait.
Gabriel has 20 Premier League goals to his name, while Saliba only has seven. Interestingly both pale in comparison to Gallas’ haul of 25 goals, which may show why he places such importance on defenders finding the net.
Regardless of who you think is better, it’s clear that Saliba and Gabriel are two of the very best in the Premier League at what they do.