Arsenal star William Saliba has played with some great players in his career.
The Frenchman is one of the best defenders on the planet, and he has played against some incredible centre-forwards.
From Erling Haaland to Kylian Mbappe, Saliba has dealt with some elite strikers, but he is teammates with some incredible attackers as well.
Viktor Gyokeres is one of them, but he isn’t the one whom Saliba and his Arsenal teammates compare to the Brazilian Ronaldo.
William Saliba says Arsenal players compare Gabriel Jesus to Ronaldo
Gabriel Jesus and William Saliba made their competitive Arsenal debuts in the same game.
The two players have played with each other on plenty of occasions, and they’ve come up against one another in training many times as well.
Jesus, on his day, is unplayable, but injuries have really hurt him at Arsenal over the last few years.
However, despite that, everyone at Arsenal rates him very highly.
Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly called Jesus the most skilful player at Arsenal recently. Now, Saliba has revealed that the Brazilian gets compared to ‘R9’.
He said on Sky Sports: “We have three Gabi’s.
“If you want to call Martinelli, you say Martinelli. If it’s Jesus, you call him R9. Yeah, he likes it when we call him R9. Gabi Magalhaes is Big Gabi.”
What Ronaldo Nazario once said about Gabriel Jesus
Ronaldo was an absolute superstar when he was playing and is among the greatest strikers to ever grace the game.
The Brazilian was absolutely phenomenal during his prime, and the defenders who came up against him back then all speak very highly about him.
Having been an incredible striker himself, Ronaldo knows an elite centre-forward when he sees one, and he once hailed Jesus.
He said in 2022, as per TBR Football: “Gabriel today is one of the best strikers in the world and much more mature than in 2018.
“The goal will come out naturally, and this concern should not cross your mind. All he has to do is get on the field and do what he knows.”