Best Alternatives to William Saliba

Playing Style Analysis

Saliba has quietly become the most complete ball-playing centre-back in the Premier League—a defender who makes the game look administrative. His 92.7% pass accuracy and 76 passes per 90 place him in the top 5% of defenders in the division, yet the more revealing figure is his 6.81 passes into the final third per 90, putting him in the top 20%—this isn't a man simply recycling possession, he's actively driving attacks from deep. The counterintuitive truth: his below-average interception rate isn't laziness, it's positioning intelligence—he's rarely caught out of place enough to need them. The three closest DNA matches to William Saliba:

• Josko Gvardiol (80% match) — A Ball-Playing CB. Statistically, he stands out as naturally left-footed, commanding in the air (4.0 clearances/90), meticulous in distribution (89% pass accuracy), wins the physical battle (56% duel success), heavily involved in possession (69 passes/90), penetrates with forward passing (9.2 final-third passes/90), central to possession (82 touches/90) and uses long balls frequently (5.1/90).
• Micky van de Ven(79% match) — A Ball-Playing CB. Statistically, he stands out as naturally left-footed and meticulous in distribution (90% pass accuracy).
• Marc Guéhi(88% match) — A Ball-Playing CB. Statistically, he stands out as commanding in the air (5.2 clearances/90), meticulous in distribution (85% pass accuracy), wins the physical battle (64% duel success), uses long balls frequently (6.3/90) and active off the ball (2.5 press score/90), contributing to defensive transitions.

Similarity uses per-90 performance across playing-style dimensions. How Player DNA matching works →