Speaking on the ITV Football Podcast, Gary Neville has claimed that Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka must be performing better than Jadon Sancho in England training.
Saka earnt his first start at a major tournament against the Czech Republic this week and his selection raised a few eyebrows, especially when you consider he was picked ahead of Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho.
Neville theorises that Saka must be doing something that Sancho isn’t in England training for him to be picked ahead of him.
What’s been said?
Neville was speaking about Sancho being left out of the starting XI for England at the Euros.
“He’s almost last choice in terms of all of those players, and for that to be the case Gareth is seeing something he doesn’t like in training, there’s nothing about that. The reason he’s brought Saka in is because he’s loved that boy in training every single day for the last seven or ten days. There is something he likes about Saka in training that isn’t the same in Sancho, I don’t know what it is, we’re not privy to it, but there’s definitely something,” Neville said.
Must be the case
We can only imagine that Neville’s theory about Saka and Sancho is right.
In terms of reputation, Sancho trumps Saka at the moment. His numbers are better, he’s being spoken about more in the media and he’s playing Champions League football, but Southgate is picking Saka ahead of him for England.
Southgate’s decision to choose Saka on Tuesday was immediately justified as the Arsenal man put in a top-class performance, and perhaps it’s his showings in training that are swinging the balance in his favour.
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