Bukayo Saka reveals the audacious shirt he wore to his Arsenal trial aged SEVEN – as Gunners’ baby-faced assassin names the legend who has helped him master his ‘confidence and belief’

Bukayo Saka has long been considered Arsenal royalty, but the Gunners winger has revealed his place on the throne dates back even to his first steps at the club.

When Saka went on trial at Arsenal’s Hale End academy at the age of seven, he wore a shirt his father had bought him which had the nickname “King Kayo” emblazoned across the back.

In an interview with Men in Blazers Media NetworkSaka said: “When he first bought the shirt, I didn’t know if I wanted to wear it or not because it was a trial and you don’t want to show up with ‘King’ on your back.

“But my father pushed me and said: no, believe in yourself. Go for it. In the end, I just did it. After a while, when you play football, you forget about it anyway.

It turns out his father, Yomi, was right all along as Saka became one of Arsenal’s most important players. Aged 24, he is already in the club’s top 10 all-time Premier League goalscorers.

FA Cup winner and two-time Arsenal Player of the Year, Saka could well end the season as Premier League champions. By the end of the summer, maybe even a World Cup winner.

Video provided by Men In Blazers Media Network

Speaking to Men in Blazers Media Network, Saka described how he was reluctant to wear the shirt – but his father pushed him to keep it, telling the youngster to “believe in yourself”.

For now, though, as he sits at Nando’s – “it’s my happy place, my happy food” – he ranks his greatest achievement in gaming as seeing his face next to PERi-PERi Saka sauce. “It’s No. 1, I think,” Saka laughs.

Saka is still considered by many to be a baby-faced assassin, one of football’s Mr Nice Guys. Arsenal legend Cesc Fabregas once described Saka as “a bit of a bluffer”.

“He makes his opponents think he’s too nice, but when he’s on the field he’s a different animal,” Fabregas said.

“There’s a fine line between being nice and wanting to win,” Saka said. “You can’t be nice at the expense of winning.

“When we get on the field, it’s a battle. You against me. In everyday life, I don’t fight against anyone, so I don’t need to be the way I am on the field.

Saka has known more footballers his age, not only a two-time Euro finalist but also the victim of atrocious racial abuse after his missed penalty against Italy in 2021. None of that, nor the outside noise or pressure as Arsenal look to win their first title in 22 years after so many near-misses under Mikel Arteta, has stopped him enjoying football in the same childish way he did when he showed up at Hale Green with “King Kayo”. on the back.

“The day I don’t want to watch football anymore, I don’t want to talk to my friends about football, that would be the day I start to feel like I don’t really like football anymore,” says Saka. “That day has not come and I don’t think it will come.

Saka credits Thierry Henry as the person who helped him the most: “In recent years he has told me different things and helped me on and off the pitch, how to deal with certain things.”

“This (other) stuff is all separate from football. Football is about getting out on the pitch, having the ball at your feet and working on your craft. The rest is not football. The problem is that the noises increase from year to year. That’s the problem. It’s probably the hardest thing for the modern day footballer to try to adapt to the noise, but football itself will always be football.

Saka credits another Gunners icon as the person who taught him the most about how to improve on both fronts.

“Thierry Henry,” said Saka. “The last few years have told me different things and helped me on and off the pitch, how to deal with certain things. Confidence and belief on the pitch, that’s what he had in abundance, he almost scared defenders without even touching the ball. If I can reach his level, which is very difficult because he’s probably the best player in the Premier League.