Arsenal Ace Told He Is Not “World Class” Following Brutal Assessment Of His Stats
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Former Arsenal and Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant thinks Bukayo Saka needs to be scoring over 20 goals a season on a regular basis if he wants to be labelled a “world-class” player.
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The winger has only reached that figure once in his career, and Pennant says his numbers don’t compare favourably with other players who have played in his position, such as Mo Salah:
“If you start touting players as world-class, one of the best wingers in the world or the best winger in the Premier League, then you’ve got to be in those numbers. I would say it’s non-negotiable.”
“If you look at Mohamed Salah, he did it for nine years straight – in the bracket of goal contributions, it’s plus 20. I think he [Saka] does get away with a bit of murder at times, the numbers and his stats.”
“He can put in some absolutely stellar performances, but if you look deep and you start digging deep and you look at his stats, compared to top wingers around the globe and who played in the Premier League as well, they fall quite short.”
The Arsenal star has been pretty prolific
Pennant’s remarks are very harsh, especially if we look at both goals and assists. He has a combined 164 in his professional career, which is an average of 1 in every 1.93 matches.
If we compare that to Salah’s career, the Egyptian has averaged 1 in every 2.07 games. Admittedly, though, he did average 1 in 1.16 matches during his time with Liverpool.
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Saka could still reach Salah’s level
It should be pointed out that the Liverpool legend only started scoring 20+ goals a season regularly when he turned 25 – the same age that Saka is now.
Of course, it doesn’t guarantee that Arsenal‘s starboy will follow the same path, but there is at least scope for him to become more clinical in front of goal. He hasn’t necessarily hit his ceiling yet.