Speaking on the Wrighty’s House Podcast, Ian Wright has been chatting about Bukayo Saka and how he should be treated in the Arsenal dressing room.
We can all recognise that Saka is one of Arsenal’s best players, and Wright says that when a talent like this comes through, you often don’t tell them how good they are in order to keep their feet on the ground.
However, Wright says that Saka doesn’t necessarily need that level of treatment due to how humble he is, stating that the winger is keeping himself grounded.
What’s been said?
Wright spoke about Saka.
“I want to give some love for Bukayo Saka. He’s 20 years old, he’s the youngest player to score 20 goals for Arsenal since Cesc Fabregas, he’s so good,” Wright said.
“The thing is, he knows ‘I am here, I am the guy’ He is the guy in the dressing room at the moment and at that age, it made me think about young players, I didn’t have many at Arsenal, but for England, Lee Sharpe came in at 18/19 and the older players we talked about him at breakfast and dinner because he was doing things, everything you’d see an established top pro doing, he’d do it at 19.
“The older players would talk about him when he wasn’t around, because you have to make sure he keeps his feet on the ground. This may be one of the things you worry about with Saka, but because he’s so humble and not getting carried away, you don’t feel that there’s anyone in the dressing room who will have to put him in his place.”
“The point I’m trying to make is how you talk about a player but not when they’re there because they’re so good and you want them to feel like just one of the guys. Saka, in that dressing room, what makes me feel so pleased and so proud of how he is is that he’s not got many people around him who can do that, so he’s doing it himself.”
Humble
Saka would have every right to be a prima donna. He’s 20 years old and shining in the Premier League, but you never hear anything bad about this young man.
While the likes of Phil Foden and Jack Grealish can end up in the media for the wrong reasons at times, Saka seems to just get on with things and go about his business quietly, and that’s exactly what you want at this point in his career.
Saka surely knows how good he is, but he’s not let his talent go to his head whatsoever.
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