Bukayo Saka has named former Arsenal and Manchester United winger Alexis Sanchez as one of his early role models in football, with the attacker admiring the Chilean’s style of play.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, the 21-year-old attacker revealed that Sanchez’s approach to taking on opponent players was something that Saka has taken into his modern game, with the South American one of the best dribblers in the Premier League during his peak with Arsenal.
It might be easy to forget, but there was a time when Sanchez was one of the most dangerous forwards in Europe, with Arsene Wenger getting the best out of the former FC Barcelona star before his move to United, where Saka has clearly been inspired by the winger during his glory years in north London.
Saka said on Sanchez inspiring his style of play: “The way I play, I’m always going to attract contact. I watched Alexis Sanchez a lot growing up. He was a special player, I loved many things about him. That’s one of the qualities he had, he always got up, fought to the end. You could say I took that from him.”
With Saka one of the most fouled players in the Premier League based on his direct style of play, it’s no wonder that Sanchez is an inspiration to the England international, with the former Arsenal star someone who got the Emirates faithful off their seats on a regular occurrence.
Indeed, whilst the winger arguably made the wrong choice to leave Arsenal for United in the infamous Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap-deal, there’s no denying that Sanchez…