‘Bukayo Saka wouldn’t get into Stoke City team’

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 8 Dec 2024 11:54 GMT
• 4 min read

Former Watford striker Troy Deeney has bizarrely claimed that Arsenal superstar Bukayo Saka wouldn’t get into Tony Pulis’ Stoke City team.

Pulis managed Stoke from 2006 to 2013 and established the club as one of the most feared sides around when it came to set-pieces, long throws and direct football.

Despite being very technically limited, Pulis’ Stoke side regularly punched above their weight playing a direct, aggressive and set-piece oriented style of football that was often criticised by the purists.

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After Arsenal beat Man Utd 2-0 on Wednesday thanks to two goals off set-pieces, the Gunners were compared to Stoke by former United striker Dimitar Berbatov.

Arsenal have scored 22 goals off set-pieces since the start of last season, the most in the Premier League.

Berbatov’s comments angered Deeney, himself a physical and robust striker in his day, who stuck up for Pulis before bizarrely adding that Saka wouldn’t get into that Stoke team.

READ MORE: Latest Arsenal transfer news

What did Deeney say?

"If anything, it is really disrespectful to Tony. He did a wonderful job with a bang-average Stoke team keeping them in the Premier League — and yet it was ONLY because of their set-pieces? And why is there a stigma attached to it? Maybe everyone should play wonderful football like at Southampton — then get hammered for being bottom?,” Deeney said in The Sun.

"I was there on Wednesday. It was a sh*t game which Mikel Arteta and his side won from two corners. I played against Pulis’ Stoke and they were nothing like Arsenal of today. Bukayo Saka wouldn’t get into that Stoke team. Not because he isn’t good enough but because it is a completely different style.

"But God forbid a team gets in the box and wants to head a ball — compared to a United team that didn’t want to head anything.

"I loved Berbatov as a player, he is a real football man. But it feels a lazy comparison from a really smart guy just to protect his old club. If United won 2-0 from two corners, would Berbatov call it a tactical masterclass? Yet, when Arsenal do it, it’s Stoke? Arsenal dominated possession for most of that game, too. It’s called winning football."

Saka has been in inspired form this season. He has more assists than any player in Europe and also has seven goals in all competitions.

Saka at Arsenal

Saka joined Arsenal as a seven-year-old in 2008 and came through the youth academy at the club.

He made his debut in 2018 and soon established himself as a key player in the first team.

The 23-year-old Saka has since gone on to make 245 appearances for Arsenal’s first team, scoring 65 goals.

He has won an FA Cup and two Community Shields and played a key role in the successive second place finishes in the Premier League in 2023 and 2024.

He has also won 42 caps for England, scoring 12 goals and is considered one of the best young players in his position in the world.

He starred for England at World Cup 2022 and Euro 2024, and also played at Euro 2020 - twice getting runners-up medals at the European Championship.