Micah Richards has compared Bukayo Saka to none other than Arsenal legend Robert Pires.
The former Manchester City right-back made the claim on BBC’s Match of the Day Top 10 while reeling off a list of the ten best French players to ever play in the Premier League.
While several Arsenal fans may consider the comparison between Bukayo Saka and Robert Pires overboard, Micah Richards has explained his reasoning behind the parallel.
Micah Richards says Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka reminds him of Robert Pires
The 21-year-old could well be on his way to becoming a club legend as well, as he is leading Mikel Arteta’s side to potentially their first league title since 2004.
While Robert Pires is already viewed as one of the greatest players to ever don the Arsenal shirt, Micah Richards went on to compare the two-time league winner to Bukayo Saka.
As Gary Lineker opened, “Robert Pires…”, Richards replied saying, “Now we’re cooking! He reminds me of Saka.”
Lineker retorted saying, “Really?”, to which he said, “On the other side, the way you think he’s not going to beat you and then he just drops the shoulder and then bends it into the far corner.”
A bit of a strange comparison
While both Pires and Saka fall into the creative winger category of wide players, their playing styles are nothing alike, which makes the comparison rather bizarre from Micah Richards about the Arsenal duo.
And even when breaking down their games as creative wide players instead of outlets, Saka is still a far more direct player and incredible direct runner than the silky World Cup-winning attacker.
Well, in any case, Bukayo Saka is one of one in terms of his profile than any other Arsenal winger during the Premier League era, which is why the comparison to Robert Pires does not quite add up from Micah Richards in this instance.