Jamie Carragher has made a very interesting claim about Arsenal star William Saliba and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland this week.
The two players are among the best in their positions in the Premier League and perhaps even in Europe at the moment.
Saliba has been absolutely sensational since he made his debut in the Premier League on the opening day of last season. He is one of the best defenders in the world right now.
Haaland falls into a similar bracket as well. He is a world-class striker and his numbers since the start of last season for Manchester City are just ridiculous.
Carragher, who has watched them both play for the better part of the last two years, has now made an interesting claim about Saliba and Haaland.
Jamie Carragher says William Saliba will never publicly admit one thing about Erling Haaland
Manchester City star Erling Haaland has been in the news a lot recently, hasn’t he?
The Norway international has scored 30 goals and provided six assists in all competitions this season. If you take away the Community Shield, he averages a direct goal contribution every single game.
That is a ridiculous record, and you would think everyone on the planet is up on their feet applauding Haaland for what he has done.
However, the Manchester City forward has come under immense criticism recently. Roy Keane went as far as calling him a League Two player, which is very, very harsh.
The reason Haaland has come under a lot of stick is because of his performances against three of the best centre-backs in Europe right now – Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, Real Madrid star Antonio Rudiger and Arsenal’s William Saliba.
Haaland has struggled against all three of them over the last month and failed to score a single goal.
Jamie Carragher has now claimed that Saliba, Van Dijk and Rudiger will all privately feel they had an easy time defending against Haaland, but they would never publicly admit that.
He wrote in The Telegraph: “Van Dijk, Saliba and Rudiger will not admit it publicly, but after the Liverpool, Arsenal and Real Madrid games against Manchester City, they must all have come off the pitch believing they have faced much tougher assignments than keeping Haaland quiet.”
William Saliba’s transfer value has shot up
Arsenal signed William Saliba for just £27 million back in 2019 (Goal).
The Frenchman was only a teenager back then but was very highly rated. Everyone could see his potential and Arsenal fans expected him to become a regular right after returned from his first loan spell at Saint-Etienne.
However, Mikel Arteta kept him out of the squad for six months that campaign and then sent him out on loan two more times – first to Nice and then to Marseille.
That experience really benefitted Saliba, and since his return to Arsenal before the start of last season, he has been one of the best centre-backs in the world.
As a result, the 23-year-old, who was signed for £27 million, is now worth a whopping £85.5 million, according to CIES Football Observatory.
No other centre-back in Europe is more valuable than him.
The post 'Will not admit it': Jamie Carragher says there's one thing William Saliba will never say about Erling Haaland appeared first on TBR Football.