‘Saliba is better than Man Utd star’ - Rio Ferdinand
Tom Weber
- 3 Oct 2023 16:18 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes that Arsenal's William Saliba is a better player than Lisandro Martinez.
Martinez and Saliba enjoyed similar campaigns last term. Both properly announced themselves to English football and impressed for their respective clubs.
Frenchman Saliba marshalled a stout Arsenal defence that ran Man City close until his injury saw the Gunners fade away and lose their defensive solidity. The diminutive Martinez, meanwhile, played a crucial role in Man Utd getting back into the Champions League, proving that concerns about his height were unfounded.
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However, while Saliba has continued to impress since returning from injury, his Argentine counterpart has struggled, like most Man Utd players, to recapture the form he showed last season. Martinez is now set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after aggravating an injury he originally suffered in April - perhaps one of the reasons why he hasn't looked his solid self this term.
Ferdinand picks Saliba
Speaking to talkSPORT, legendary Man Utd centre-back Rio Ferdinand has revealed that he prefers the Gunners' Saliba over Martinez. Asked to choose between the two, Ferdinand, somewhat surprisingly, picked the Frenchman.
"I would go Saliba," he said. "I think Saliba could potentially be top, top, top. Martinez answered a lot of critics last year, a lot of doubters about his size and stuff like that. Fantastic on the ball."
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"This one, you're helped by the team you're playing for. He's in a very solid, consistent team, Saliba. Martinez isn't." Saliba is three years Martinez's junior and only cost the Gunners €30 million, whereas United spent €57.4m on the ex-Ajax defender.
Ferdinand also recently spoke about Erik ten Hag, saying on his podcast that Man Utd appear to have gone backwards this season, while still continuing to back the Dutchman to turn things around amid the Red Devils' poor start to the campaign.
