Declan Rice has named the one Arsenal teammate who goes under the radar, claiming that he never heard anyone praising him before he joined last summer.
Arsenal have had another fantastic season, making further progress as they look to end their wait to win the Premier League title, and it is going to be fascinating to see where Mikel Arteta sees the side needing to improve over the summer.
One area where the Gunners are the best in the league is at the back, with Arsenal conceding just 29 goals across their 38 games. No team conceded fewer in the campaign, and David Raya ended up with the Golden Glove.
Of course, many have lauded William Saliba for the form that he has shown this season. But, speaking to Stadium Astro, Declan Rice believes that the man alongside him has been much better than a lot of people realise.
Declan Rice says people rarely speak about how good Gabriel is
“Do you know what, obviously there was a lot of talk about Saliba before I came here, there was always talk about Saliba. But no-one ever really spoke about Gabriel, honestly, that guy, without him as well we’d be in big trouble,” he said.
“Them two together have built up that partnership, 16 clean sheets, they’re just such a good partnership and for me to play in front of them as well, we have a great understanding, we train it everyday so we’re all still really young and I think we’re going to keep getting better.”
What people inside Arsenal think of the Brazilian
Saliba and Gabriel look to be developing one of the all-time great centre-back partnerships in Premier League history, with Arsenal having challenged for the title in both of the campaigns they have been together.
Neither is necessarily at their peak yet either, so there is a chance that that partnership gets stronger and stronger over the next few seasons.
Interestingly, Rice’s view on Gabriel appears to be echoed from within the club, with Arsenal believing that Gabriel does not get the credit that he deserves outside of the Emirates.
Perhaps it is because he is not as silky as the man alongside him, with Saliba often being compared to a Rolls-Royce. Gabriel is largely seen as the warrior of the pair.
But clearly, those at Arsenal are under no illusions when it comes to how important the £23 million man truly is.