Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka has been told he’s ‘in the same mould’ as Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah.
The man making the comparison was former England defender Martin Keown. Speaking to BT Sport during the coverage of Arsenal’s match with Bodo/Glimt last night, Keown suggested that Saka is similar to the Liverpool icon.
“He’s top drawer. Tonight he was the difference. He’s a left-footed right winger, he makes it really difficult for the opposition with his change of pace. He is emphatic, you see Salah doing it for Liverpool, he is in that mould,” he said.
Saka scored the only goal of the game to hand his team yet another win. To make matters interesting, Liverpool have long been reported as having an interest in signing the 21-year-old for themselves.
Liverpool still keeping an eye on Saka situation
You can see where Keown is coming from with this comparison. But to be honest, it’s mainly seems to stem from Saka is a left-footed forward playing on the right.
Over the last five years, Salah has become the blueprint for any aspiring player in that position. Anyone running into a rich vein of goalscoring form from that area of the pitch is likely to get the same treatment.
As it turns out though, Liverpool’s recruitment team may well have seen a little bit of what Keown is referring to.
Back in August, The Times reported that Liverpool were joining Manchester City in ‘closely monitoring’ Saka.
Their interest was said to be dependent on the England man not signing a new contract. Although the same report indicated that he was on the verge of doing just that, two months on and Arsenal fans are still waiting.
That could mean nothing at all, contracts can often take time and Saka may be looking for assurances that the Gunners will finally play Champions League football. So far this season they look good value for that, so we’ll see what that leads to.
Should Arsenal fail to tie their No.7 down though, Liverpool should be in with a shout. Salah showed that reports of his demise were very much premature with a 6-minute hat-trick on Wednesday night. But he’ll need replacing sooner or later.
All things told, Saka could be the right man to do that.