Arsenal: Good thing William Saliba can inject life into depleted youth

A recent report ranked William Saliba as the Arsenal youngster of the highest value.  Thank God he’s coming to give us new hope in our youngsters.

In what has become the true joke of the Premier League pause, a recent “statistical based” report has been released ranking all the elite young talent in the world. Which is damn exciting, because Arsenal‘s youth system is in the best shape it’s been in in quite some time.

Unfortunately, the creators of said report beg to differ. Of the top 20 youth prospects in all the world, the Gunners had zero people currently at the club. The closest they had was Gabriel Martinelli, ranking in at a dismal 21st with a value of £23m. That’s less than half what Mason Greenwood ranked in with and their stats are quite similar.

Then there’s Bukayo Saka who didn’t even make the top 50. You know, the Bukayo Saka who is leading our entire team in assists and has the most assists of any teenager in the Prem. That guy.

The only other player of any note in this ridiculous list is William Saliba, who does rank in the top 20—right at 20th. Just ahead of Martinelli.

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Man. Thank God we’re getting Saliba because our youth system is in such a bad state. Like, will we ever see a youth star make an impact in the Premier League again with how dismal our stock of youngsters currently is?

Two things. Well, three. 1. I’m being facetious. This is a stupid list that blew its own credibility in one fell swoop. I don’t care how little Martinelli has played, you can see straight up how good of a player he is.

2. With guys like Martinelli, Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock and Reiss Nelson all chiming in at the first-team level, it really doesn’t matter what this unknown commodity says about them. We have seen them, the stats reflect what we have seen, and next year, we are going to see at least Saka and Martinelli absolutely take off. Plain and simple.

Lastly, on the bright side, William Saliba is a talent. He was able to crack the top 20 from Saint-Etienne while other Gunners youngsters were left out in the cold. If Martinelli is raking in 10 goals and four assists at No. 21 on the list, what does that mean for our new young defender at No. 20?

Hopefully, this is the last I’ll ever have to say about this report, but sometimes tells me it won’t be. Anyway, I can’t wait for William Saliba.