Pundit thinks Arsenal star is even better than ‘incredible’ Manchester City man

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Arsenal legend Martin Keown rates Bukayo Saka higher than Phil Foden and would choose one Premier League star over another in the England XI for this summer’s European Championships. 

Rio Ferdinand certainly sparked quite the debate this week. Bukayo Saka? Not a world-class player?

That was quite the statement, even if Ferdinand’s opinion is derived less from reservations over Saka’s ‘unreal’ performances, and more because he is yet to make an impression in the latter stages of the Champions League, Arsenal absent from Europe’s premiere club competition in recent seasons. 

Gunners icon Martin Keown sees things differently, however, insisting that Saka’s often-dazzling performances in the Premier League for Arsenal and for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions side is proof enough that the academy graduate belongs at the very highest level. 

Is Bukayo Saka really a world-class player?

“I do think he’s a top-class player,” Keown, a three-time league champion under Arsene Wenger, tells talkSPORT (16 February, 11am).  

“I think he’s ahead of Foden. At this moment, Foden is playing incredible football but I would play Saka on the right-hand side for England,”

“I think he’s a top player, there is no doubt about that. (He and Gabriel Martinelli) are still the two main players, and he’s top quality. Let me tell you, he can go right to the top. It’s all in front of him.

“The sky is the limit.” 

Double figures for goals and assists

Saka’s numbers speak for themselves. A tally of 13 goals and 13 assists in all competitions is higher than the likes of Marcus Rashford, Vinicius Jr and Rafael Leao, the much-coveted AC Milan talisman Rafael Leao, who HITC Football understands has been earmarked as a potential replacement for Kylian Mbappe at Paris Saint-Germain. 

Saka heads into Saturday’s clash with second-bottom Burnley on the back of arguably his most scintillating performances of the season too, the Arsenal number seven hitting a brace in last week’s 6-0 dismantling of West Ham United.