Opinion: William Saliba would make Newcastle better

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Newcastle United could well have struck gold this transfer window if today’s reports are anything to go by.

Mikel Arteta’s unwanted man William Saliba is a loan target for Newcastle, according to the Daily Mail.

At just 20 years old, the centre-back has already caught the attention of Arsenal fans who believe the defender has the makings of a top player in the future. 

With first-team ambitions, Saliba is waiting on Arteta’s decision to provide him with such opportunities. 

His situation at Arsenal has been difficult. Reports suggest that Saliba has a tricky relationship with Arteta, who sent him out on loan in the middle of last season.

And despite the fact that he joined up with Arsenal in 2019 for £27m, he has not yet made a competitive game for the Gunners, having spent the 2019-20 campaign on loan at Saint-Etienne.

Clearly, Saliba would not want to waste away on the bench next season, and given Newcastle’s recent transformation into Arsenal graduate academy club – vis-à-vis there has been a constant dialogue between the two clubs over the past year or so – such a move appears quite viable.

Federico Fernandez played the most minutes out of any Newcastle defender in the league last season (2083 minutes making for 24 appearances) and so it seems the fairest to compare the Argentine with this newly-linked player.

Saliba made 7.6 ball recoveries per 90 minutes compared to Fernandez’s four; he made 24.4 forward passes while the Newcastle defender made 14.6; Saliba also made more interceptions per 90 minutes – his 1.3 to Fernandez’s 0.8.

In the more defensive stats, Fernandez was superior to the young defender last season, making 6.3 clearances (the highest in the Premier League, in fact) to Saliba’s four – and also beating the Arsenal defender on aerial duel success, aerial duels won, ground duel success and blocks, among others. 

We must take into consideration the style in which Newcastle play: providing the opposition with the ball and asking them to attempt to break through will naturally lead to defenders making more defensive actions than others.

Even still, Saliba should be a brilliant addition to the side if he was to join, and if Newcastle can make a double swoop for the Frenchman and perhaps even Joe Willock (maybe permanently?), then the Magpies could have a couple of world-beaters in a matter of years.

Jacque Talbot is on Twitter.

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