Thread by @nonewthing

If a 20-year-old CB won't fight for his place because one player is ahead of him at Arsenal, then I don't want him at my club. He can go be the Mbappe of CBs somewhere else.

Tacticos overfetishize talent. Yes, Saliba has potential but he's not the only great CB prospect around.

5 years ago and I would be afraid of losing him. Nowadays, CBs with a class passing range and ball-carrying who are built like a tank and run like bullets are dime a dozen. Saliba is super talented but you don't need the most talented CB prospect in the world to build a defense.

Wesley Fofana
Levi Colwill
Edmond Tapsoba
Ibrahima Konate
Tanguay Kouassi
Dayot Upamencano

The list of young CBs in this mould is near endless. Football has too many great talents for a club of our size and repute to get stuck on one.

I love Saliba. I think he has a good chance

of emulating Van Dijk in terms of dominating duels. But Van Dijk is one of the older gen modern CB versions, perhaps the best of the lot. Boateng, Luiz, Silva, Ramos, Pique etc. All of these guys were extremely dominant, too, and if your club had them instead of Van Dijk, you

wouldn't complain.

We could easily have a CB pool of Edmond Tapsoba, Benjamin White, Gabriel Maghalaes and Takehiro Tomiyasu. That's more than European level good. That's good enough to win European trophies.

I want us to maximize the fact that we already own Saliba's rights

but if the player himself doesn't even want to show one bit of competitive pride at one of the biggest clubs in the world at 20 years of age, then he can leave for a pretty penny. France is full of CBs. So is England, now.

And, no, he is not yet a better defender than White.

People underestimate how good White can be.

Benjamin White is a superior version of young Maguire, with the only letdown being his lesser aerial dominance. White hasn't even filled out his body yet. At his peak, you are looking at one of the most complete defenders in Europe.

Gabriel Maghalaes is another UTTERLY MONSTROUS defender at the club. If Saliba can't or won't try to beat out either one of White or Gabriel, then he is not worthy of the European pool of defenders Mikel Arteta is trying to assemble.

Another coach or another project and Saliba

is a must-stay prospect. But not under this coach who plucked out Gabriel in his first transfer attempt, and not under this project with its massive financial resources.

Arteta tried for Tapsoba, you know. And if you know how good he is, you wouldn't be afraid of Saliba leaving.