Darren Bent believes Mikel Arteta now has a player at his disposal at Arsenal who is ‘equally as good’ as William Saliba.
Saliba has established himself as one of the best defenders in the world at the Emirates in recent seasons.
The Gunners have subsequently become heavily reliant on the Frenchman, playing him in 51 games across all competitions last season.
The player is at risk of burning out, and thus, Arsenal sought to address this single point of failure in their squad by dipping into the market over the summer, and they appear to have been successful with this transfer endeavour.
Darren Bent says Cristhian Mosquera is as good as William Saliba
Arsenal signed Cristhian Mosquera for a measly £13 million in July.
Expected to merely deputise for Saliba and fill in for the France international in cup competitions, the Spaniard has impressed everyone with his level early on in his career in North London.
Peter Crouch waxed lyrical about Mosquera after the 21-year-old shone in Bilbao for the Gunners on Tuesday, and the former Liverpool striker isn’t the only one to join this hype train.
Darren Bent has arguably gone a step further and claimed that the youngster looks ‘equally as good’ as his senior, Saliba.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Wednesday, Bent expressed his views on Mosquera’s exquisite showings in recent weeks.
“Yeah. If you got [Marc] Guehi, it’s a different conversation, but obviously we’ve seen Saliba is out and Mosquera’s come in and he looks equally as good,” he said.
Manchester City travel to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon, and it will be interesting to see whether Arteta reverts to Saliba or keeps faith in Mosquera.
Given that the Citizens will start Erling Haaland up front, Arteta likely will resort to pragmatism and select the 24-year-old.
Arsenal could sell William Saliba for huge money if Cristhian Mosquera keeps progressing
Saliba is reportedly in contract talks with Arsenal, with the imperious central defender understood to be happy to remain in N5 for the foreseeable future.
However, it’s also been widely documented that Real Madrid hold an interest in the player and they could certainly make a move to bring him to the Bernabeu at any point.
One or two years down the line, there could come a point where cashing in on Saliba becomes an attractive proposition to Arsenal.
This will hinge entirely on the continued development of Mosquera, but it’s possible that the starlet does get close to Saliba’s level in the long-term.
If this happens, then accepting a mammoth offer from Real Madrid for Saliba would be an entirely justifiable action for Arsenal to take.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
