{"id":672199,"date":"2026-05-29T13:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/672199\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T13:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:30:14","slug":"everything-just-clicked-right-there-the-moment-that-made-bukayo-saka-bukayo-saka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/672199\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everything just clicked right there\u2019: the moment that made Bukayo Saka | Bukayo Saka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan van Loon remembers the moment well. As Arsenal\u2019s head of coaching he was guiding Freddie Ljungberg\u2019s first steps in management with the under-15s when Bukayo Saka<\/a> joined the squad. Saka was regarded as one of the academy\u2019s standout talents but Ljungberg soon concluded the youngster was in danger of not fulfilling his potential.<\/p>\n

Towards the end of 2016, Ljungberg delivered words to Saka that, according to Van Loon, have shaped the winger\u2019s career. It was a one-on-one evaluation, typically held twice a year in the academy, but also in the room were Van Loon, a strength and conditioning coach and Saka\u2019s father, Yomi.<\/p>\n

\u201cBukayo was sitting there feeling pretty confident because he was scoring goals and things were seemingly going well,\u201d Van Loon says. \u201cBut Freddie said: \u2018I\u2019m actually not that satisfied, because you\u2019ve got so much more in you. You need to take a good look at yourself. From now on, I want to see the real Bukayo. No more hiding in training or going through the motions. No, you\u2019re the first one out there on the pitch and the last to leave it. You\u2019re going to carry the team and take on a leadership role.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bukayo Saka full of confidence while playing for Arsenal\u2019s under-15 side back in 2016. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane\/Arsenal FC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Saka, Van Loon recalls, was taken aback. \u201cHe didn\u2019t expect criticism, that he needed to do much more. But he quickly realised that Freddie was doing it out of respect. Freddie said: \u2018I\u2019m going to help you with this, I\u2019ll support you, I believe in you.\u2019 And very quickly it turned into something positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation remains etched in Van Loon\u2019s memory. \u201cYou have to picture it like this: Bukayo was sitting at the table and his dad was in a chair a few metres behind him. We looked them both in the eyes and his dad had a big smile, like: \u2018Finally, someone who\u2019s going to help my son get the most out of himself.\u2019 Because he could see there was so much more in Bukayo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ljungberg twice won the Premier League with Arsenal<\/a>, including as part of the Invincibles, and was a member of their team that lost the 2006 Champions League final. Twenty years on the club return to that stage against Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday and if Saka shines on the biggest stage, Van Loon will surely reflect again on that meeting between two of the club\u2019s most celebrated forwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was as if everything just clicked right there, like the pieces of a puzzle falling into place,\u201d he says. \u201cIn that moment I felt something great is happening here. It was pure gold \u2026 Sometimes, in a player\u2019s career, you can trace things back to one moment where he realises: \u2018I can\u2019t let the talent I\u2019ve been given slip away. I have to put the work in now.\u2019 Bukayo made that decision right there. He completely embraced that mindset, and he is still doing that today.<\/p>\n

Bukayo Saka (front row, left) did not expect the criticism he received while being coached by Freddie Ljungberg (front row, centre). Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane\/Arsenal FC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until that meeting, Saka wasn\u2019t really standing out. In a way, it was almost too easy for him. Even at 50 or 60% of his ability, he could already be the best on the pitch. He became comfortable, he wasn\u2019t being challenged. Freddie saw that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ljungberg left for Wolfsburg the following February and Van Loon took over the Swede\u2019s team. \u201cI hardly had to do anything because Bukayo was doing it all,\u201d says a laughing Van Loon, who departed Arsenal later in 2017. \u201cHe was running the dressing room, organising the warm-up, making sure the intensity in training was right. If the work rate wasn\u2019t there, he\u2019d say: \u2018Coach, do you have a second?\u2019 He\u2019d stop the session and tell the other players: \u2018Right, now we\u2019re going to work \u2026 You need to press harder \u2026\u2019 That\u2019s when Bukayo really took off.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year later Saka was playing for the under-23s, coached again by Ljungberg, and on a freezing night in Kyiv in November 2018 he made his first-team debut. Unai Emery selected him for a Europa League tie at Vorskla Poltava and Saka, aged 17, came on for the final quarter with No 87 on his back. It completed a path shaped by sacrifice \u2013 the hours spent honing his skills with his father and brother in the garden, the countless car trips to the Hale End academy with his dad.<\/p>\n

Bukayo Saka skips past defenders on his first-team debut with Arsenal against Vorskla Poltava in their Europa League tie in 2018. Photograph: David Price\/Arsenal FC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Within two years Saka had his first England cap, his smooth transition leaving a mark on Chris Powell, Gareth Southgate\u2019s assistant. \u201cI remember how seamless it was for him to fit into training and into the level of play, which was impressive for someone so young,\u201d Powell says. \u201cPlaying for your country and being alongside the elite players can be overwhelming for some, but Bukayo has such a good temperament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that Saka\u2019s journey has been without adversity. Most devastatingly, he was one of three England players to miss a penalty in the Euro 2020 final shootout defeat by Italy. Powell made a point of consoling him on the pitch. \u201cI have a son the same age and I just remember thinking: \u2018That could have been my son standing there.\u2019 I put my hand on his shoulder to show him he wasn\u2019t alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It was in my head that there would be a backlash,\u2019 says England assistant coach Chris Powell after Saka\u2019s penalty was saved at Euro 2020. Photograph: Carl Recine\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Powell admits he was worried, though: \u201cI thought he might not come back from it. Standing there with Saks on that Wembley pitch, it was in my head that there would be a backlash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately there was, with Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, who also missed penalties, subjected to racial abuse online<\/a>. Powell says support from Southgate and Arsenal, including from their manager, Mikel Arteta, was vital.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did we get Bukayo back, but I think we got a better player back,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes you go through very difficult moments, but those experiences can help you in the end. He has been amazing since, which just shows you his strong mindset and mentality.<\/p>\n

A billboard at Waterloo Station shows support for Saka and his England teammates Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho after they received racial abuse on social media for missing the penalties at the Euro 2020 final against Italy. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal\/Alamy<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s been almost the making of him. Such a huge moment in his young fledgling career \u2013 but he overcame it. He has been taking penalties for Arsenal and England since, scoring massive goals like the one away at Real Madrid last season and producing other massive moments for them. It just shows the stature of a player who is still only 24.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powell left the England setup after the 2022 World Cup but Saka went on to be coached there by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who from March 2023 until after Euro 2024 worked primarily with the attacking players.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe listens, asks questions and takes on board what you tell him,\u201d says Hasselbaink, who well remembers how Saka achieved redemption from the spot by flawlessly scoring a Euro 2024 quarter-final penalty in the victory over Switzerland. \u201cHe was asked and he wanted to take it,\u201d Hasselbaink says. \u201cWe practised it many times in training and he looked sharp, full of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink\u2019s help with Saka\u2019s penalty routine paid off in England\u2019s Euro 2024 quarter-final shootout. Photograph: Jonathan Moscrop\/Sportimage\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Hasselbaink had helped Saka and others focus on penalty routines. \u201cFor some, it\u2019s important to start without a goalkeeper and focus purely on a corner and hitting the far corner, and then repeat that many times. What I also did was mark the middle of the goalpost with bright tape. That highlighted the area where the ball shouldn\u2019t go, because that\u2019s the height where it\u2019s easiest for a keeper to save it. You either hit it hard and high into the corner, which carries some risk, or hard and low.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hasselbaink admires Saka\u2019s defensive diligence but urges him to focus on his attacking game when he faces PSG\u2019s Nuno Mendes on Saturday. \u201cWith Mendes, the most important thing is to attack him, to keep him pinned back as much as possible,\u201d the former Chelsea striker says. \u201cMendes will want to get forward as much as he can. It should be a very interesting duel.\u201d Hasselbaink is confident Saka will shine: \u201cIn big matches,\u201d he says, \u201c he always shows up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saka, 10 years on from that chat, has certainly made the most of his talent. \u201cHe constantly wants to keep improving, both as a footballer and in his behaviour as a role model for the youth,\u201d Van Loon says. \u201cHe shows that hard work can pay off and that you can deal with setbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan van Loon remembers the moment well. As Arsenal\u2019s head of coaching he was guiding Freddie Ljungberg\u2019s first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-672199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}