Bukayo Saka has been crowned Arsenal Fans' Footballer of the Year after a stellar 2022 that has seen him evolve into one of the best players in Premier League.
Having suffered the brutal setback of missing the crucial penalty in the EURO 2020 final against Italy last year, Saka has roared back to have one the best individual calendar years seen at the Emirates Stadium in recent times. Perhaps his individual highlight was truly banishing the penalty demons of Wembley by stepping up to score a crucial spot kick at Stamford Bridge that kept Arsenal in the race for the top four.
"He learned so much and he matured so much, that’s why he’s having the season that he’s had," said Mikel Arteta after that game. "For him to have to the courage to say ‘I’m going to take it again’ because I’m sure it was in the back of his mind, for me it’s ‘chapeau’ even if he had missed it."
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Sadly it wouldn't be enough to help get Arsenal Champions League football for the first time in a decade, but far from letting that disappointment get him down, Saka has come back for the 2022/23 season to become arguably even better. He has been crucial for Arsenal's unexpected Premier League title charge, and has won over the hearts of the entire nation and beyond after his sublime performance for England in the World Cup in Qatar where he managed three goals.
He was the comfortable winner for this year's award gathering 2453 votes, while Granit Xhaka was a distant second with 387. In third place was William Saliba with 300 votes, while Ben White scooped up 132 of your votes.
Across the Reach PLC football network, supporters have been voting for their Player of the Year from all clubs. Saka and Arsenal women star Beth Mead were amongst the nine players in contention for the award but the top prize went to Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes, who claimed 27% of over 32,000 votes after making such an impact on Tyneside following his January switch from Lyon.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, who had won the award in the previous two years, was beaten to a third straight triumph after trailing the Brazilian ace by 6%. Beth Mead meanwhile ended up in third position for the award, while Saka was in fourth.
A breakdown of the results can be found by clicking here.
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