Saliba's coach "thought of Van Dijk" when he first saw Arsenal defender

Arsenal centre-back William Saliba has the "potential to make it far" and warrants comparisons to Liverpool superstar Virgil van Dijk.

Those are the confident claims of Saliba's strength and conditioning coach, who also explained why Gunners fans are wrong to be "annoyed" by the defender's current predicament.

Saliba, 20, is in the early stages of a season-long loan at Marseille having moved to the Emirates in a £27million transfer from Saint-Etienne in 2019.

The young Frenchman has excellent ability on the ball and willingness to pass out from the back, as well as a towering 6'4" frame.

In recent years Saliba has worked to bulk-up with Dubai-based trainer Nicolas St-Maurice, who has played a key role improving his "speed" and "power" to make him even more imposing for opposition attackers.

William Saliba has brilliant technique and an imposing physique ( Image:

Stuart MacFarlane)

"He's a very nice guy, very hard working. We worked on a number of things such as speed, power, you know he's a big guy also and he's strong," St-Maurice told football.london of Saliba.

"When you're so young and you're big and strong you aren't as quick as the smaller guys. We worked a bit on that and he did really well."

Reds stalwart Van Dijk is also 6'4" and St-Maurice believes there are clear similarities between Saliba and the world-class defender 10 years his senior.

He added: "When I first saw him (Saliba) I thought of Van Dijk because of his positions of plays and he has the right potential to make it far."

Saliba's Arsenal career so far

Despite St-Maurice's praise, Saliba is yet to make his mark at Arsenal, or even earn his first senior appearance.

He was immediately loaned back to Saint-Etienne for the season upon joining Arsenal in July 2019, with many expecting he would compete for minutes at Arsenal when he returned.

But Saliba arrived back in north London to find Unai Emery - the manager who signed him - had been sacked and replaced by Mikel Arteta.

His pathway to first-team football for the Gunners was no longer so clear and Arteta wanted to have a look at him in the Under-23s and Under-21s before deciding if he was ready to make the step up.

William Saliba made eight appearances either for Arsenal Under-23 or Under-21 ( Image:

Getty Images)

Saliba made eight appearances for those sides but kept just one clean sheet in that time, failing to convince Arteta he warranted involvement even in Europa League group-stage clashes.

The upshot of a tepid first six months at the Emirates was another loan back to his homeland, with Saliba joining Nice on a short-term deal in January.

He impressed for the Ligue 1 club, making 22 appearances before arriving back at Arsenal with more valuable top-flight experience under his belt.

Did William Saliba deserve more of a chance under Mikel Arteta last season? Have your say in the comments.

But this was still not enough to convince Arteta of his quality, and this summer he was shipped out to Marseille for the season.

Throughout all this, Saliba has continued to work on improving his physicality and St-Maurice has been impressed by his dedicated approach.

"I know a lot of young players I can see that some get distracted when they come to Dubai but he (Saliba) was working hard and he's got the right environment," said St-Maurice.

"William is humble."

How is Saliba getting on at Marseille?

William Saliba has been in brilliant form for high-flying Marseille

Simply put, Saliba has been excelling in France while on loan at Jorge Sampaoli's side. The Argentine manager himself has heaped praise on the youngster, claiming he is "lucky" to have him in his squad.

Saliba has featured in all seven of the club's Ligue 1 fixtures, conceding just six goals in that time to help them go third in the table.

Given Arsenal's defensive frailties at times this season, questions have been raised regarding why Arteta and technical director Edu allowed Saliba to depart.

As the loan was confirmed, Edu was keen to stress Saliba is "still developing all the time", hinting more first-team minutes are required before he can enter the fray in the Premier League.

Although he speaks highly of Saliba's quality, St-Maurice appears to share this view and anticipates another season on loan could be exactly what he needs.

" Arsenal fans are annoyed right now because he's (Saliba's) not at the club and he's doing really well in Marseille but I think last season he missed some games on top of COVID," said St-Maurice.

"Saliba needs to play more and he will come good. He does not want to come to Arsenal and sit on the bench - that's not his mentality. He wants to be playing for Arsenal. I think next season he will make a solid case for himself."