Ask me today for player of the year and I’d say Saka

IT WAS a pleasure watching Bukayo Saka play for England in Naples last week and against Ukraine at Wembley on Sunday. There is a joy and a cleverness and a subtlety about the way he plays his football that cannot help but transmit itself to spectators and observers everywhere, and he has become one of Gareth Southgate’s most influential players as England dream of winning next year’s European Championship. There are still a couple of months to go before we choose our FWA Footballer of the Year and players such as Alexis Mac Allister, Erling Haaland, Marcus Rashford, Miguel Almiron and Martin Odegaard would be high on any list. But if I had to vote today, I would vote for Saka.