Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka was wrongly snubbed from EPL award shortlist
By Kian Long
How the Arsenal youngster didn’t make the EPL Young Player shortlist is beyond me.
The time has come for Premier League fans to vote on who they think should win the EPL Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards. When it was first revealed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang didn’t make the cut, despite almost matching Jamie Vardy‘s golden boot winning campaign, Arsenal fans suspected there was an agenda.
However, this is not even close to not featuring Bukayo Saka in the Young Players award. Granted, he may not have won given the level of competition, however, he should have at least been mentioned. For the full list of names, click here.
To me, it’s absolutely ludicrous. I would argue that Saka easily gets in ahead of Mason Mount, who was featured as a nominee for the award. I’m not saying that Mount is a bad player because of course he isn’t, but in terms of being nominated for an award, Saka deserves it more.
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Saka has been the best player in a number of matches for the Gunners this season. He really was the diamond in the rough, which contrasts Mason Mount who has been surrounded by talent. Let’s not forget also that Saka has played under three different managers this season and excelled under each one.
Saka has played across a multitude of different positions and he has not looked out of place once. This speaks volumes of his ability as a footballer, and to do so aged only 18 years old is remarkable.
Mason Mount, despite scoring more Premier League goals, has contributed to fewer goals (13 – 8G 5A) across all competitions than Saka (14 – 4G 10A). To provide a fair argument, Saka has been providing a better striker in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but the precision in his passes has still been exquisite.
When you consider that a large proportion of Saka’s appearances have been as a left-back, this is remarkably impressive. He deserved to get in the shortlist ahead of Mason Mount, I feel. Either way, both players have been incredible and will look to continue their fine form next season as they hope to represent England at Euro 2021.
Do you think it was a fair or unfair decision to leave Bukayo Saka out of the shortlist?