William Saliba moved to Olympique Marseille on loan last summer in search of regular game time, and he must be pretty happy with how the loan move has gone so far.
The centre-back has played the most minutes in the league so far.
Not only that, his performances have been impressive, and it will be interesting to see what his parent club, Arsenal, decide to do with him for next season.
The following visualisation shows William Saliba’s numbers when compared with the other centre-backs from Ligue 1 in the 2021/22 season.
William Saliba has all the physical qualities a manager would want in a centre-back.
He is strong, agile and tall.
Modern day center-backs play a key role in their team’s build-up play and quite frequently play the ball forward either diagonally or between the lines.
Saliba’s rank in the 88th percentile for Progressive Passes per 90 shows that he is comfortable with the ball at his feet.
He also ranks in the 98th percentile for Forward Passes per 90 minutes.
Defensively, he ranks in the 8th percentile for Fouls per 90 minutes, which goes on to prove that he is not erratic and is calm defensively.
Saliba ranks within the 68th percentile for PAdj Interceptions.
This indicates that he is aware of the game situation and is always there to stop an opponent’s attack.
One aspect of the game that he might have to improve is his aerial ability.
He only ranks in the 33rd percentile for Aerial Duels Success (%).
William Saliba, after signing for Arsenal in 2019, is yet to make a competitive appearance for his parent club.
But his loan spells over the last couple of years have proved that he has the ability to be a Premier League level center-back soon.
He surely has a bright future ahead of him, and if that is with Arsenal or another club, only time will tell.
