11 months ago
139 Paul Merson has claimed that Arsenal star Bukayo Saka is “nowhere near” Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah at present.
The Gunners-leaning pundit, writing on Sky Sports, said the Arsenal prodigy’s figures aren’t close to those of the Reds icon.
Saka has enjoyed a fantastic career at present. At just 22 years of age, he’s on 201 competitive appearances for Arsenal and 32 England caps.
The Gunners star also has an impressive 46 goals and 52 assists under his belt at club level, plus 11 goals and eight assists for the Three Lions.
Meanwhile, Salah is on 200 goals and 87 assists in 327 outings for Liverpool, and 53 goals and 30 assists from 93 Egypt appearances.
‘Just mind blowing’
Merson believes that, while Saka is deemed “one of the best wingers in the world”, his figures aren’t on par with those of Salah.
Indeed, the Arsenal legend says even Manchester City duo Jack Grealish and Phil Foden together won’t score as many as Salah.
“Everyone tells me that Bukayo Saka is one of the best wingers in the world,” wrote Merson.
“But playing in exactly the same position as Salah, he gets nowhere near his figures. What Salah produces at the highest level is just mind blowing.
“We talk about Jack Grealish and Phil Foden, who are unbelievable footballers, but they won’t score as many as Salah put together.
“He’s definitely in the top five players in the world for me. He always gets massive goals in massive football matches, and I can’t speak highly enough of him as a player.”
Arsenal star Bukayo Saka and Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah are a blessing to the Premier League
While Salah is a world-class player who has etched his name in football folklore, Saka is nine years younger and already he’s in the same bracket as Salah.
At 22 years of age, Salah had joined Chelsea, but was barely getting a look-in. Loan spells at Fiorentina and Roma followed before he joined the Italian capital club permanently.
Then came the £34million move to Liverpool in 2017, and the rest is history. But by the time he returned to the Premier League, he was already heading into his prime.
Meanwhile, Saka has already hit a double century of appearances for Arsenal aged 22, and he’s only getting better and better. It’ll be exciting to see how he fares in the next decade or so.
And really, does it matter? We’re blessed to see two players of such high quality plying their trade in the Premier League and we should all just enjoy seeing them in action.
The post 'Nowhere near': Paul Merson says 'one of the best' stars at Arsenal isn't on par with £34m Liverpool man appeared first on TBR Football.
