Owen Hargreaves has hailed Arsenal’s new defenders, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
They joined the Gunners from the French Ligue 1 where Saliba turned out for Saint Etienne, while Gabriel played for Lille.
Saliba was signed last summer, but he was allowed to remain at the club for the rest of last season, while Gabriel has just been brought in as Mikel Arteta continues rebuilding the team.
Both players are very young with Saliba just turning 19, while Gabriel is 22 and they will have all the time they need to develop in England.
Hargreaves was speaking about Arsenal ahead of the new season and commended them for how tough to beat they have become after earning wins against the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, before praising their acquisition of both players.
‘I think they’ve started to show a different side already under Arteta. They started to compete more against the bigger teams,’ Hargreaves said on Optus Sport’s The Weekend Preview via Metro.
‘We saw it against Liverpool, we’ve seen it against Manchester City, we’ve seen them win one-off games where you wouldn’t have fancied them before so I think they’re harder to play against.
‘I think the biggest one is defensively. He’s signed a super player in Saliba, even though he’s young and Gabriel is another really good player. He’s competitive, he’s aggressive.
‘But the only problem is that these two guys that he’s signed don’t really know this division. Getting centre-backs to come to this league and adapt takes time.
‘Even for the great ones, we saw it with Nemanja Vidic even.
‘I think he’s trying to sort the defence out and maybe having David Luiz play in the middle of those guys which would work with those young guys.’
Saliba is reportedly in line to start against Fulham this weekend due to the injury that David Luiz has suffered recently, it will be interesting to see how he performs.
No scoop, both good but need to adapt to league physicality and pressure along with style pf play.
Every players tho, if Ozil or Sanchez adapted right away or fast as Auba, means these 2 can adapt or not.
Saliba will, understand the game qnd dominant but must be physically ready. Only one way, hit the groud harder, extra gym & titanic like program to have him really fit, Gabriel too. Mari shows how much physical is key in EPL. To avoid & limit injuries risk, i would by not be rushing these 2 kids to start a game but properly warm up as off 20mn before break til second half… Now, Arteta may feel they ready and fulham a team they gain a game time wihch i agree but championship league can actually be more ruff and physical. He must take good decision on players he start & sub; main challenge as a coach he is officially is this seasôn. He knows that indeed and let’s hope to see all potential to blossom this season. He is good with managing players, mentally mainly which is most important; your mind set abefore and hitting the pitch.
Wenger was good at this, and Arteta his key man as a captain got that in him, he says it; as a captain Wenger helped him understand the coaching and mqnagement; a captain has this role of getting message qnd attitude accross the pitch & towards all team.
Good point and as he probably is, i wish to see Arsene Wenger as our President, sitting as the Emirates for same reasons and values he brings back.