Arsenal defender William Saliba has said that Ruben Dias the best defender in the world right now.
The Frenchman had his first season in the Premier League with Arsenal last term as he helped them finish second.
With the new season now underway, the Gunners star has been sharing his thoughts on two of the other top centre-backs in the top flight of English football.
Saliba says Dias is the best defender in the Premier League right now
Speaking in a recent video on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, Saliba had this to say when asked who he feels is the best centre-back in England at the moment.
He said: “Right now, honestly, is Ruben Dias. Van Dijk, normally, for me is the best, during the last four years he was the best in the world, but for me in the last season or two seasons ago it was Ruben Dias.
“I think, in the world, in the last season he was the best for me.”
Looking back over the previous Premier League campaign, Dias ended the campaign with a higher passing accuracy percentage than the Dutchman (92.7% vs 90.5%), as well as having a higher percentage of dribblers tackled (61.1% vs 42.1%) and making fewer errors that led to an opponent having a shot at goal (1 vs 2).
In fact, once the previous Premier League season came to an end, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher shared his praise for Dias on Monday Night Football and his defensive ability on the pitch.
Bearing in mind how Van Dijk has had a tough start to his latest campaign by failing to keep a clean sheet in any of the three league games he’s appeared in and getting himself sent off in the first half of last weekend’s win over Newcastle United, this could be why Saliba thinks Dias is a better defender at the moment than the 32-year-old.
