Speaking on the Official England Podcast, Tony Adams has been full of praise for Bukayo Saka, but he has expressed worry about his future.
The winger is one of the brightest talents in England at the moment, and if all goes to plan, Saka will be one of the best players in the world one day.
However, Adams is worried about how he will react if things don’t go right with him for England and people try to knock him down a peg or two.
What’s been said?
Adams had nothing but good things to say about Saka, but he expressed concern about his future treatment.
“He’s my mate Saka, he’s a pal of mine. I first saw him down the road when he played Forest Green when he was about 17, and I said wow. I sent him a little text and said ‘you’re doing really well and if you keep your feet on the ground’ and his family are really good. These kids are great now, they get so much education and it’s so brilliant,” Adams said.
“My fear is, and he’s got good people around him, so I think he’ll be ok. But if things don’t go right and all of a sudden I know what this country is like, they build you up and then they whack you down, but he’s good enough to handle that as well to be honest with you.”
Sad reality
Adams says he knows what this country is like in terms of building people up only to later knock them down and he’s absolutely right.
Just look at some of Adams’ former England teammates as examples. Paul Gascoigne, David Beckham and Gareth Southgate are just a handful of names that have gone from being national icons to being public enemy number one based on just one moment.
Of course, Beckham famously recovered from his red card against Argentina rather quickly, and while Adams reckons Saka has what it takes to recover from any setbacks in a similar way, we don’t know if he does until it happens.
Fingers crossed Saka never has to deal with what Adams is talking about during his career.
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