‘There is an echo’: Jamie Carragher says ‘perfect’ Arsenal player really reminds him of £75m star

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Jamie Carragher says Arsenal’s William Saliba is capable of replicating the impact of Virgil van Dijk at Sunday’s opponents Liverpool.

Carragher wrote in his Telegraph column that Saliba could be the man to transform Arsenal’s defence and consequently take them to the next level as a team.

He said that the Frenchman allows Arsenal to play higher up the pitch, just like van Dijk does at Anfield.

And Mikel Arteta’s side have a chance to go 14 points clear of Liverpool if they beat them on Sunday afternoon.

Carragher on Saliba and van Dijk

He wrote: “At Arsenal, the integration of William Saliba and signing of Gabriel Jesus have elevated the team’s performances to a point where they look like a top-four team again. Saliba is a modern centre-back in the Van Dijk mould. 

“He is fast enough to deal with the quickest strikers, aerially strong to cope with target men, and comfortable in possession to ensure his side can play from the back. These are early days and Saliba has a long way to go to match Van Dijk’s long-term influence at Liverpool.

“But he has had an immediate impact on how structurally sound a previously flaky defence looks. There is an echo of Van Dijk’s early months at Anfield. The major tactical difference a player such as Saliba makes is in enabling the team to play higher up the pitch, trusting their pacey, multi-faceted centre-half to react if strikers try to get in behind.

“So far, Saliba has been the perfect fit for Arteta, although he will occasionally show inexperience. His misjudgement enabled Marcus Rashford to score on the counter. Although that is the only blemish this season, it demonstrated where Arsenal must improve to get close to the extraordinary standards set by Liverpool and Manchester City.”

Van Dijk joined Liverpool for £75 million (BBC) in January 2018 and that transfer fee was initially scoffed at before he transformed their defence.

Every club is on the lookout for that player who can revolutionise their backline and it seems that Arsenal may just have found one.

They were patient with Saliba, loaning him out until he was ready and now he seems set to help them push on and if they can beat Liverpool, what a statement of intent that would be.