Journalist Charles Watts has slammed the ranking of Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka in the Kopa Trophy as the youngster came in at eighth.
Earlier this week, Paris hosted the annual Ballon d’Or awards ceremony and while Karim Benzema was handed the biggest prize in the men’s category, Gavi won the accolade of the best performing player under the age of 21.
The Barcelona teenager ranked higher than all his peers, while Saka was listed as the eighth-best player on the list. Finishing ahead of the Arsenal star were the likes of Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Nuno Mendes (PSG), Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig), Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich).
It seems as though Watts believes the Englishman should have finished head of at least a few of those names and he made his feelings known while talking about the topic on his YouTube channel.
Indeed, he said (09:04): “I don’t get Bukayo Saka. He finished eighth in the Kopa trophy which is for 21s and under. And you look at that and I just think it’s very hard to justify Bukayo Saka finishing eighth in that. I know it’s basically a popularity contest and I do feel like people playing in the Premier League get a bit hard done by when it comes to these award ceremonies.
If Saka is in the Real Madrid or Barcelona team, believe me, he’s finishing higher than eight – put it that way. I mean, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Gavi won it, not sure about that.
He later added (09:54): “I just don’t know. I mean, Saka has been doing it in the Premier League, the hardest league in the world. You look at his numbers, his goal contributions he started every single game. He helped England to the Euros final – I know that was the summer before – but still, I’m just not sure you can really justify Bukayo Saka finishing eighth.
“And I bet he’s not too bothered to be fair and a lot of people aren’t too bothered. But if Saka’s playing in the Premier League, not playing for Arsenal, if he’s playing for Barca or Real Madrid, he finishes the hell of a lot higher than eighth. So I thought that was a strange one.”
TIF thoughts on Bukayo Saka and Arsenal…
So far this season, the 21-year-old has certainly proven himself to be one of the Premier League’s top performers. For instance, he has scored four goals and provided four assists in ten games, firing Arsenal to the top of the table.
Last season he was also very impressive, as he played in every league game and notched 11 goals and claimed a further seven assists in that period, which was enough to see him named the club’s player of the year for the second campaign in a row despite his tender age.
On top of that, his performances with the Three Lions have also been enough to see him win the England men’s player of the year, so it’s easy to see why Watts feels as though Saka could have easily been ranked a little higher in the Kopa Trophy this time around.
Did Bukayo Saka deserve to be ranked higher?
Yes
No
