William Saliba Dream Team’s most-selected defender but is Arsenal star worthy of his popularity?
LET’S get one thing straight, William Saliba (£3.5m) is a very fine footballer.
Arsenal missed the youthful centre-back badly during the run-in last season when he was sidelined with a back injury.
The Frenchman’s partnership with Gabriel (£4.5m) at the heart of defence was one of the reasons the Gunners spent more weeks at the top of the Premier League than any other team in 2022/23.
Such is Saliba’s potential, Oleksandr Zinchenko (£3.5m) recently claimed his team-mate has all the tools to become “the best centre-back in the world”.
So perhaps it’s understandable that Arsenal’s No2 is currently the most-popular defender in Dream Team ahead of the new season.
Saliba’s ownership of 29.9% puts him just above Trent Alexander-Arnold (£6m), John Stones (£5m) and Kieran Trippier (£6m).
Clearly, price is a factor; it’s likely that Dream Team gaffers see the 22-year-old as good value at £3.5m given he’s a probable starter for last season’s second-best team.
However, is Saliba truly worthy of his popularity?
He mustered 90 points in total at an average of 2.7 per game last season which was nothing more than moderate even accounting for his injury lay-off.
Dream Team’s scoring system has been revolutionised this season and while his revised points-per-game average of 4.6 appears much healthier, it still puts him below the likes of Ethan Pinnock (£2.5m), Kenny Tete (£2.5m) and Emerson Royal (£3m).
Saliba would have amassed 151 points had the new scoring system been implemented last season, just the 27th-best revised tally among assets in his position – even without injury he would have struggled to make the top ten.
Compare these stats to Gabriel, who finished ninth among defenders in reality last season, but would have risen to fifth had the new scoring system been applied.
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The Brazilian costs an additional £1m but it could argued he’s worth the additional investment.
Jurrien Timber’s (£3.5m) switch to the Emirates is another factor to consider.
The Dutchman can play as either a centre-back or a right-back, much like Ben White (£4.5m) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (£2.5m).
If Mikel Arteta decides to rotate his defensive options then Saliba’s minutes may be reduced.
It will be interesting to see whether the Arsenal fan favourite remains the most-popular defender in Dream Team once Gameweek 1 gets underway.