‘I wouldn’t’: Pundit says he’d take Arsenal’s £27m defender over Virgil van Dijk now

Add as preferred source on Google

For the longest time, Virgil van Dijk has been considered the very best centre-back in the Premier League, but that may now be changing.

Indeed, Arsenal’s William Saliba is now on the rise, and he is a serious challenger to Van Dijk’s crown.

Speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Adrian Clarke was presented with a hypothetical situation where he had the chance to switch Saliba for Van Dijk in this Arsenal team as a part of a discussion about David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale’s situations, and the pundit says that he actually wouldn’t swap Saliba for anybody right now, not even Van Dijk.

Saliba over Van Dijk

Clarke responded when asked if he’d take the £27m man over the Liverpool star.

“Here’s a question for both of you then, if Virgil van Dijk became available would you put him in the team ahead of William Saliba?” The host asked.

“No, I wouldn’t change William Saliba for anybody,” Clarke said.

“William Saliba is a phenomenon, but I’m saying about someone who is just slightly better and more experienced, do you understand the point I’m saying about team dynamics?” The host responded.

Hot property

There genuinely may not be a defender in world football who is a hotter property than Saliba at the moment.

At the age of 22, the Frenchman is already bordering on being world-class, and he’s only going to get better.

He has a decade of dominance ahead of him, and it has to be said that he looks like the best defender of his generation.

Van Dijk may be slightly ahead of him at the moment, but due to his age and potential, we have to agree that we’d rather have Saliba in our team than the Liverpool captain right now.