Bukayo Saka started England's first game of the World Cup. Gareth Southgate opted to start Arsenal's youngster on the right wing to complement Harry Kane, who led the line. He certainly repaid the favour as his two goals helped the Three Lions to a rampant 6-2 victory over Iran. And it was this performance that helped become a starter in all-but one of England’s World Cup matches.
Despite Saka’s impressive performance during the competition where he scored three goals, The Three Lions were unable to progress beyond the quarter-finals after being beaten by France last Saturday.
There were a few standout performers for Southgate at the World Cup but former England football Stan Collymore believes that Saka was the best of the bunch.
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Before praising Saka, Collymore mentioned that Harry Maguire and Jude Bellingham also could have been considered as England’s best player. Collymore saidvVia the Mirror:” Maguire has done well, he was very steady, 8/10. But it would be between Saka and Bellingham for my England Player of the Tournament and I’m going to go with Saka.
"For 60, maybe 70, per cent of all the time he was active on the pitch, he wanted to make things happen, his performances were excellent, he scored goals, so it’s him just above Bellingham. I thought Bellingham dropped off a little in the USA game, although none of them were great in that game.
"While people may well talk about Bellingham for longer, and I’ve a feeling as well that he will be the man for the longer course, Saka was England’s best player by quite some distance. What will be interesting to see is how Saka deals with the weight on his shoulders when clubs potentially start coming in to try to sign him.”
Saka took part in his second major international tournament following his World Cup participation. Similar to the World Cup, Saka also played a pivotal part for England at the Euro’s last year, where he helped guide his country to the final of competition before losing on penalties.
Collymore believes that Saka’s involvement in the previous tournament will see England in good stead going into the next international tournament.
He added: “t was about what I expected from England and, if anything, my par bar has been raised to the semis at Euro 2026 because I expect such as Bellingham, Declan Rice, Saka and Phil Foden to all have kicked on another level by then. Preferably, Gareth Southgate will still be involved as manager, too.”
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