Bukayo Saka says three Hale End stars were his idols – one of them played just 12 games for Arsenal

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Bukayo Saka might just be the greatest Arsenal player to come out of Hale End in this century.

The Englishman burst onto the scene when he was just 17 years old. He made his Gunners debut under Unai Emery and has gone from strength to strength since.

Saka took his game to a whole new level under Mikel Arteta, and he is now one of the best players in the world. He is a global superstar.

However, before he saw fame, Saka was just a young lad in the Arsenal Academy, dreaming of becoming a professional one day. Three former Hale End stars inspired him.

Bukayo Saka names the three Hale End stars he looked up to as a kid

The Arsenal Academy is one of the best in the world.

Hale End has produced several sensational players over the years, and Saka might become the best of them all soon.

However, when he was growing up at Hale End, he looked up to three players who had made it into the first team after coming through the ranks at the academy.

Saka revealed that those three players were Jack Wilshere, Alex Iwobi and Chuba Akpom.

Speaking to Arsenal’s official website, Saka said: “When I was in the academy all of us used to look at Alex Iwobi, Chuba Akpom and Jack Wilshere.

“They had come through the academy, were quite close to our age as well, and we got to go to a lot of games at Emirates Stadium so we got to see them play a lot.

“Obviously, Jack at the time was really, really flying – he was a joy to watch. We all loved watching him, and we saw a lot of ourselves in him too because he had come through the way we wanted to.

“The same for Alex and the same for Chuba.”

What has Chuba Akpom been up to since leaving Arsenal?

Akpom was one of the finest talents in the history of Arsenal’s academy. He was absolutely incredible for the youth teams.

However, for one reason or another, he couldn’t make a name for himself in the senior side. Akpom was sold to PAOK in 2018 after making just 12 first-team appearances at Arsenal.

The striker has made a great career for himself since. He was a star in Greece with PAOK before returning to England to play for Middlesbrough – he was fantastic for them as well.

Now, the former Arsenal youth team star plays for Dutch giants Ajax. He scored 15 goals for them in his debut 2023/24 campaign and has found the net on seven occasions this season.

It’s a shame that Akpom never got to live up to his potential at Arsenal, but we’re delighted to see him performing elsewhere.