Bukayo Saka was reunited with his first-ever first-team football coach this week, ahead of Arsenal's Premier League clash with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The 23-year-old winger, who has developed into one of the Gunners' key players in recent years, spoke to his former youth coach Colin Nixon about the influence he had on his career.
To celebrate the positive impact coaches can have on individuals and their local communities, Saka and Nixon reunited as part of the Chase Football Coaching Program and took a heartwarming trip down memory lane.
Nixon first noticed Saka's talent when the Arsenal star was just six years old and playing for local football club Greenford Celtic.
After the two enjoyed a heartwarming reconciliation, with Saka telling Nixon that his parents still ask about him, the coach put his former student through an old training exercise before joking, “He's still got it.”
Saka said: 'It's an honor to be working with Colin again and it's very nice to see a familiar face from which I started this whole journey.'
Nixon responded and continued, “I feel so privileged and honored to have actually seen you back then, where you came from. When he made his England debut as an Arsenal and England fan, it was phenomenal.”
Saka revealed that among the 'special' shirts he has on display in his home, including those of Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo, he has his old Greenford Celtic shirt on display to remind him of his roots.
“When I came to the game, he always made everyone feel confident, loved and supported,” Saka said of Nixon.
'That's all you can ask for at that age. Coaches have a very big impact on players at a young age, but that is only possible if coaches create the right environment.'
After rising through the youth ranks at Arsenal, Saka made his senior debut for the Gunners in 2018, coming on as a substitute in their Europa League match against Vorskla Poltava.
Six years later, Saturday's clash with Crystal Palace will mark his 250 appearances for the club, with Saka contributing 67 goals and 63 assists for the club in that period.
Reflecting on the reunion, Saka added: 'I think it's a very nice moment for me if I'm honest, because we come to Arsenal and get into the first team and play, and now we're competing at the highest level. You know it all happened so quickly.
“It's been 17 years since I started training with him. For me that was a long time ago. I remember I was 17 and it was only a few years ago.
“So 17 years ago, since I started playing football with him, was quite a nice memory. And yes, it was nice to catch up with him and see how he is doing now.
'He was clearly the manager of the team. And in that team he gave nine or ten players the opportunity to come and train every weekend and play games and have fun and be happy and distract them from something else that they could have been doing, which possibly wasn't so could have been positive. for their lives.
“I'll start with myself, you know, I'm here today because he was one of the people who gave me the opportunity to play football and from then on I was scouted.
“I think he and all the coaches in the local communities definitely play a big role in helping the kids of this generation.”
Comments