Bukayo Saka names three Arsenal stars he looked up to including one who played just 12 times
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Arsenal star Bukayo Saka is blazing a trail for the club’s academy and it was three Hale End stars before him who once inspired him.
Legendary Gunners manager Arsene Wenger once claimed the club ‘don’t buy superstars. We make them’ – and Saka is living proof.
Saka is the final academy product of his age on the Gunners’ books having taken up the mantle as role model for the next generation.
The England winger waved goodbye to fellow Hale End graduates Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson, and Eddie Nketiah this summer.
Smith Rowe and Nelson joined Fulham to link-up with another ex-Gooner, Alex Iwobi, who also came through the ranks at the Emirates Stadium.
Saka named the 28-year-old as one of his role models in the academy alongside a player who managed just 12 outings in the first-team.
"When I was in the academy all of us used to look at Alex Iwobi, Chuba Akpom and Jack Wilshere," he told the club’s website.
"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."
The trio all played for England youth level during their time at Arsenal, with Saka also sharing Nigerian heritage with Iwobi, who opted to represent the Super Eagles in 2015, and Ajax’s Akpom.
Saka has lifted the FA Cup with Arsenal like Wilshere and Iwobi yet it was the one who never won any silverware at the club that made the biggest impression.
Akpom joined Arsenal’s academy at the age of six and was handed his Premier League debut against Sunderland at 17.
Then Gunners boss Wenger challenged him to become a ‘big talent’ after he scored a hat-trick in a pre-season friendly win against a Singapore Select XI in 2015.
However, Akpom struggled to nail down a regular place in his 239 senior minutes and was sent out on loan to Brentford, Coventry, Nottingham Forest, Hull, Brighton, and Belgian side Sint-Truiden.
The last of his 12 senior Arsenal appearances came in a 4-2 defeat to Forest in an FA Cup clash in January 2018 – ten months before Saka made his debut.
Nevertheless, Akpom left a lasting mark on the 23-year-old after one of his cameo appearances at the Emirates.
Saka added: "I will always remember, in fact, when I got Chuba's shirt after a game once. It was after he came on in a game at Emirates Stadium.
"He knows, because he was at Hale End, and I know because I was there too – we know where the Hale End boys sit in the stadium. So afterwards, when he heard us all screaming his name, he threw his shirt to us and I was the one who got it!
"I remember being so happy that day – I think I even DMed him on Instagram afterwards to tell him I got it! I was about 13 and it's a great memory to have.
"Stuff like that sticks with you, so that's why, after the games at the Emirates, if I see the Hale End boys I always try to give them my boots or my shorts or something, because I know what it means. For us it might be a little thing, but as a kid it can mean everything."
Akpom was sold to Greek club PAOK in 2018 before returning to England to play for Middlesbrough where he soon flourished after a slow start.
The striker starred under Michael Carrick and scored 28 goals in 35 Championship games in 2022/23 to earn himself a move to Ajax.
Saka meanwhile has been consistently credited for his role in nurturing academy duo Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, who have both broken into Mikel Arteta‘s side this season.
