Giant Steps to Greatness

It is September 2023 and the 30-man shortlist for that year’s edition of the Ballon d’Or has just been announced.

Included within are some illustrious names, superstars of this era, and Bukayo Saka is not out of place among them, the Arsenal winger compiling a seriously impressive body of work.

In the 2022/23 Premier League season, the 22-year-old racked up 14 goals and 12 assists, figures that equated to a goal involvement every 122 minutes when combined.

The previous summer, on international duty, Saka bagged three World Cup goals in Qatar while his explosive displays for the Three Lions across the calendar year saw him secure the England Men’s Player of the Year award for a second time running.

Unsurprisingly, given his high numbers on the domestic front, the player was additionally included in the PFA Team of the Season.

Ultimately, Arsenal fell short in their quest to attain a first Premier League title for two decades and England disappointingly exited the World Cup at the quarter final stage. On an individual standing, however, Saka was flying.

The winger finished 24th in the Ballon d’Or voting that October, just behind England compatriots Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane.

Another Leap Forward: Becoming Arsenal’s Main Man

Fast-forward twelve months and Saka was again nominated for the Ballon d’Or after once more completing twelve months of excellence.

This time his numbers were even more noteworthy, accumulating 16 Premier League goals and assisting on 12 occasions while a deep run in the Champions League saw the winger prominent and impactful throughout.

In three group games, Saka both scored and assisted, then at home to Bayern Munich in a marquee last eight clash, the Emirates hero curled a beautiful effort past Manuel Neuer to open proceedings.

In a campaign that saw the player handed the captaincy and pass a meaningful milestone of 200 appearances for his club, Saka had established himself beyond all doubt as the Gunners most important player.

He scored Arsenal’s goal of the season, a sensational strike vs Nottingham Forest. He finished the year as their top goal scorer.

That summer, England travelled to Germany for the Euros, and the Ealing-born star took his blistering form with him as the Three Lions navigated all-comers and reached another major final.

Regrettably, the showpiece event went against Gareth Southgate’s side, with Saka sacrificing his attacking sensibilities throughout to ensure solidity down that flank, ultimately to no avail.

The winger finished 21st that October in the Ballon d'Or voting.

A Brief Career Stall: Wear and tear starts to tell

Stepping back at this stage of the player’s career, and taking in the bigger picture, we can ascertain with some conviction that Bukayo Saka was heading in the right direction, to achieve his apex goal, which is to be considered the best player in the world.

“It’s a dream,” he recently admitted on the lofty objective of attaining a Ballon d’Or over his peers, “But the only thing I can focus on now is to win things here and everything else will come after.”

This, of course, is the standard response from a media-savvy, elite talent yet there is also wisdom in his words.

Because, for all of his superb performances across two years, it’s fair to surmise that an absence of silverware counted against the player twice-over in the voting, as Arsenal found themselves pipped to the post consecutively and England lost in the 2024 Euro final.

Helping to propel the Gunners to a title triumph, or firing the Three Lions to a major glory would certainly boost his cause considerably; firmly put him in the reckoning for the most prestigious individual honour.

Yet there is another truth, not mentioned by the player because frankly it’s such an obvious point to make. That is, in order for the player to compete for a Ballon d’Or, he has to play.

As the 2024 Euro Championship drew to a close several pundits began to air their concerns about the amount of playing time Saka had accrued at such a young age. It amounted to a colossal 20,152 minutes in professional football having just turned 23.

And as the concerns grew, the prophesising duly materialised. Post-Euros to the present day, Saka has succumbed to numerous injury setbacks, ranging from hamstring problems to thigh strains.

The Next Career Chapter: Putting Injuries Behind Him

Naturally, missing tracts of the 2024/25 season meant there was no Ballon d’Or nomination hat-trick for the attacker, though thankfully this season appears to have been kinder.

By missing only the odd game or two, the player has once again been pivotal to his club’s pursuit of a Premier League title while there is no doubting his importance to the England set-up, a big consideration with a World Cup on the horizon.

Journalist and author Ryan Baldi agrees.

“Over the past three seasons at Arsenal, Bukayo Saka has completed the shift from prodigious academy graduate to one of the Premier League’s most reliable wide attackers.

Once defined primarily by his direct running, Saka now plays with the composure and game intelligence of a senior pro, dictating tempo as much as stretching defences.

For England, ahead of the 2026 World Cup, that profile feels indispensable. His performances at Euro 2024 underlined his reliability in high-pressure moments, particularly in the knock-out rounds. In a squad filled with attackers who gravitate centrally, Saka offers something rarer: a natural winger who provides width, ball progression and defensive work, without sacrificing creativity or end product.”

Come the summer months, the players club, and even country, could be in possession of a trophy or two. That could directly lead to Saka being furnished with the highest individual honour of them all.