Former footballer and pundit Stan Collymore believes Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka has been the best English player this season ahead of Real Madrid’s newest star Jude Bellingham.
The midfielder has hit the ground running at the Bernabeu and is already a fan favourite at the La Liga club given the impact he is having on their team – which is a tough thing to do.
However, Stan Collymore thinks Bukayo Saka has been his player of the season so far, not only for his performances but how he quickly brushed the EURO 2020 penalty miss under the carpet in his career.
The pundit has equally been as impressed with Bellingham and the start he has made to life in Spain but went with Saka for his player of the season so far.
Speaking to CaughtOffside, Collymore said when choosing his player of the season so far: “The reason I’ve chosen Saka is because he’s not allowed missing the penalty for England, which is only two years ago, to affect him.
“Being a particularly young man, a relative rookie, he’s already being thought of as the top man, the game changer at Arsenal and he’s taking that all on board whilst scoring goals and creating chances. Just brilliant.
“I could equally say Jude Bellingham as my pick for the season’s best player so far. What an incredible start for life at the world’s biggest football club.
“His trajectory – Birmingham-Dortmund-Madrid – has always been forward. That dude has also very cleverly done well to escape the spotlight. He comes back and plays for England and if he plays poorly, he goes back to Madrid and plays well. Nobody’s really gonna care if you play poorly.
“For Saka at Arsenal, he’s still the top man, and he’s still doing it with the England squad. He’s been absolutely exceptional for me, and I’m really looking forward to him scoring the match-winner in a semi-final or a final which would completely banish the memories of his penalty miss.”