‘Give him a chance’: Rio Ferdinand defends William Saliba, amid ‘clown’ comments from co-host
Rio Ferdinand has come out in defence of Arsenal defender, William Saliba, after he had a bit of a nightmare against Denmark this weekend.
The Danes won 2-0 against France and Saliba was withdrawn at half-time after a nightmare performance in the opening 45 minutes. He was replaced by Jonathan Clauss, and over the course of the evening came in for stick from the media and fans alike.
That criticism carried on into today’s Vibe With Five podcast with Rio Ferdinand too. However, rather than laying into Saliba, Ferdinand instead took the stance of sticking up for Saliba, insisting he is a young man who deserves patience.
“Give him a chance man, he’s a young player,” Ferdinand bit back at one of his co-hosts for criticising the Arsenal man and calling him a ‘clown’.
Saliba has, in fairness to him, been in superb nick for Arsenal this season. After returning from a superb loan spell over in Ligue 1, Saliba has been like a brand new signing for the Gunners. Indeed, he was labelled ‘magnificent‘ by Alan Shearer and has drawn praise on a number of occasions this term.
TBR’s View: Ferdinand Right To Defend Saliba
The outburst and snide remark from the other host on this was uncalled for and Rio is bang on in sticking up for William Saliba here.
The Frenchman just had a bad night at the office and there is no reason as to why that performance last night will transcend into his club performances when he returns.
Saliba has been superb for Arsenal and he’d walk into a lot of PL teams right now. So for one bad performance, being dubbed a clown is a bit harsh. Ferdinand, then, deserves credit for sticking up for him.
