Arsenal defender William Saliba is already the holder of a remarkable Premier League record for the Gunners.
The France international has shown himself to be one of the most outstanding young players in world football in recent times, becoming a real rock at the back for Mikel Arteta’s side since he was brought into the first-team squad last season.
See below as The Telegraph’s Sam Dean shows how important Saliba is to Arsenal with a crazy stat – the 22-year-old has more points per game than any of the club’s other players in Premier League history, ahead of legendary figures like Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp…
No player in Arsenal's Premier League history has won more points per game than William Saliba.
Since August 2022, #AFC have won 77% of their league matches with him. Without him, they have won 46%.
Arteta: "How he's developing… it is remarkable."https://t.co/2vjAD84b9P
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) October 3, 2023
Of course, part of this is because Saliba simply hasn’t played as many games as those players, with an average like this likely to come down a bit over time.
Still, it shows just how much Saliba has helped spear-head Arsenal’s recent improvement, with the team also clearly a lot worse when he’s not in it.
As Dean notes, Arsenal have won 77% of their matches with the Frenchman in the side, and only 46% without him.
One really has to wonder if AFC could have gone on to win the title last term if Saliba hadn’t been injured for so many important games towards the end of the campaign.