Arsenal star Bukayo Saka is one of the most popular players at the club, having joined his boyhood team from a young age and progressed through the ranks.
Saka has been at Arsenal for most of his life, and came through from academy starlet as a child to first-team star player now, and is one of the best wingers in the world.
At 22, Saka will have grown up watching the likes of Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in his childhood days, with Thierry Henry leaving Arsenal when he was just six years old.
As a result, it now appears that players elsewhere were the ones Saka looked up to, and he has now admitted that former Manchester United and Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo was his idol as he was growing up.
Bukayo Saka names Cristiano Ronaldo as his ‘idol’ over Arsenal legends
Speaking on the Men In Blazers Podcast, Saka claimed that he looked up to Ronaldo because of his driven mentality, and claimed that he has a lot of respect for the attacker now playing in Saudi Arabia.
“Personally I can’t (imagine playing for 17 more years), and that’s why I have so much respect for him,” Saka stated of the 39-year-old.
“Obviously when I when I was younger, he was my idol, but now that I’m playing football professionally, I have even more respect for him, how he’s managed to stay this disciplined and this focused and achieve everything he’s achieved, so yeah he’s special.”
Bukayo Saka grew up watching Cristiano Ronaldo in his prime
Saka recently overtook Ronaldo for goals and assists after the same number of games at his age, showing how special a talent the Arsenal winger is.
In 2014, Ronaldo was helping Real Madrid win the Champions League, having already established himself as one of the best players of all time. Saka was 12 years old during this time.
Three years later, Saka was coming through the ranks and impressing as a 15-year-old, but Arsenal were disappointing on the pitch, and the squad in disarray was not one to admire.
Ronaldo meanwhile, was on his way to completing a three-peat of Champions Leagues with Real Madrid, and was also a Euros winner.
Ronaldo was a winger in his prime, and Saka naturally looked up to him as most players his age did. Now, young talents coming through the academy may have Saka himself as their idol to look up to.
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