He has unquestionably improved key areas of his game - there were 3 areas that were weak that now no longer are. He was slow on the turn and lacked agility because he was just so huge yet so young - his muscles had to catch up with his frame. He had a bad tendency to be over aggressive in the box, he gave away penalties or dangerous freekicks he really shouldn't have because he couldn't resist sticking a foot out - that was gone after his loan at Nice imo. His heading was downright poor though - he'd still win a decent amount of aerial duels because of his size, but he couldn't get distance, couldn't dominate. He would have gotten really rough treatment in this League 12/24 months ago. And he was atrocious when heading away from crosses - his clearances would constantly not make it more than 3 yards from where he was heading - I still see a slight issue there but nothing worth talking about. I hope he can continue to improve his ability to attack the ball aerially, that's probably his only slightly weak area. I think I'm right in saying he's still yet to score a senior goal, and given his size and leap, that's pretty incredible. He obviously works like a dog on his game though and within no time we'll probably see him become a real force at set-pieces.
I watched him a ton, and was in love from the beginning, but he is a better player now than he was a year ago, let alone two years ago. Which is an obvious statement given his age. Could he have played for us? Absolutely. We had some utter muppets playing here, but for the sake of his career and development, I so glad we gave him time to learn, grow and improve away from the crazy scrutiny he would have faced learning on the job playing for centreback for Arsenal.
Anyway, he definitely has a touch of Ferdinand about him, but the obvious comparison has always been van Dijk for me. Maybe he's not quite as extraordinary as the big Dutchman when it comes to his passing and complete physical dominance in the duel - but he's 21 and VvD wasn't that at 21 - but I actually think Saliba is a smarter defender when it comes to defending his box and understanding what's happening around. Which I know is a big statement because of what van Dijk has achieved, but I feel that's an area of relstive weakness for him and one of strength for Saliba.
Please god let all be well between him and the club, get him that new contract and he can be the talisman of our defence for the rest of his career.
