Arsenal: Mikel Arteta told to drop ‘best in the world’ star and replace him with £42m teammate | OneFootball

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has been told why he needs to start Riccardo Calafiori over William Saliba at centre-back.

The Gunners are coming off a difficult couple of weeks, with the north London side missing out on the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

Arsenal failed to recover from the Carabao Cup final defeat when they faced Championship side Southampton in the FA Cup on Saturday, suffering a shock 2-1 loss to exit the competition.

And in a further blow, centre-back Gabriel was forced off with a knee injury against Southampton, and Arteta said post-match that the issue might not be “good news”.

He and Saliba have formed one of the leading centre-back partnerships in the world, and Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand has backed the Frenchman to become the “best defender in the world”.

“I think he is going to be the best defender in the world,” Ferdinand said last year.

“Saliba will be the best defender in the world when Virgil van Dijk gives up that post.

“As soon as that happens, it could be in a year, it could be three years. Whenever it’s going to be I don’t see anyone else taking over.”

Despite this, World Cup winner Marco Materazzi thinks his compatriot, Italy’s Calafiori, should start ahead of Saliba for Arsenal.

“I think Riccardo Calafiori is one of the best Italian defenders right now,” Materazzi told Hajper.

“He grew very fast when he was at Bologna. Now Arsenal must believe in him. The best way for Arsenal is for Calafiori to be allowed to play his best football.

“For me, Calafiori is best at centre-back. Arsenal should play Calafiori with Gabriel instead of William Saliba. He has a very good left foot.”

On Gabriel, Materazzi added: “I think right now in football you never know who will win the Ballon d’Or because if Lionel Messi wins the World Cup then he’ll score so many goals in Miami too.

“MLS is not the best league in the world but if he scores 40 goals in a season and wins the World Cup, I think he has the best chance to win the Ballon d’Or.

“It’s not easy for one defender to win the Ballon d’Or. Fabio Cannavaro was the last to do it but you never know in football. If Gabriel keeps scoring goals and wins some trophies for Arsenal too then why not?”