Friday, March 29, 2024

Saka ranks eighth as Kopa Trophy winner is announced

After making the 10-man shortlist for the 2022 Kopa Trophy, Bukayo Saka has had to settle for an eighth-place finish.

Named after French legend Raymond Kopa and selected by former Ballon d’Or winners, the prize is awarded to the world’s best player under the age of 21.

This was the second year in a row that Saka was nominated. Last year, off the back of his eye-catching form at the European Championships, he finished sixth.

Even though he’s dropped a couple of places this time around, it’s no mean feat making the top 10 given he didn’t get a chance to shine in Uefa competitions last season. Last month, he was voted England’s player of the year. 

Saka flew to the stud-studded awards in Paris with Arsenal Women duo Beth Mead and Viv Miedema who are up for the Ballon d’Or Féminin.

2022 KOPA TROPHY TOP 10

1. Gavi, Barcelona
2. Eduardo Camavinga, Real Madrid
3. Jamal Musiala, Bayern Munich
4. Jude Bellingham, Borussia Dortmund
5. Nuno Mendes, PSG
6. Joško Gvardiol, RB Leipzig
7. Ryan Gravenberch, Bayern Munich
8. Bukayo Saka, ARSENAL
9. Karim Adeyemi, Borussia Dortmund
10. Florian Wirtz, Bayer Leverkusen

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Dave Cee

Lucky man, I wouldn’t mind being pictured with those 2

Zenithreptile

Agreed, they are both fantastic footballers.

Qwaliteee

Couldn’t have put it better myself. Well, actually, I did and got a clip ‘round the ear from Mrs Q, with the words “in your dreams Grandad.”

So that’s me well and truly put in my place!! 😂

Artetas Right hand man

Mikel Arteta was pictured handing out business cards to all the top ten

PersonFace

For a second I was worried that either Beth Mead or Vivienne Miedema might read this article and be tricked into thinking that to strangers they were footballers first and foremost, but it’s good to know they will always be reminded that no matter what they do, no matter how much success they achieve in any field, there will always be a host of men who can’t wait to remind them (not with any malice, usually) that they are assets, first and foremost, defined by the way they look. I’m honestly not trying to paint anyone as a villain here,… Read more »

Guns Up

Yes, an overreaction. You think my wife gives a flying fuck how great a a manager Arteta is?? No, she just comments on his perfect hair and dreamy eyes whenever they show him on TV. And that’s fine – she sees what she wants, it does no harm to anyone (even if she were to post online how perfect his hair is and dreamy his eyes are). We’ve got enough actual scumbaggery in the world with which we can take umbrage – no need to light people up for saying someone’s attractive.

PersonFace

Men get to live in a world where compliments are just compliments, women do not. Always worth considering. The world isn’t divided into scumbags and not scumbags, nothing is binary. Again, not trying to “light people up” as you put it. I’m genuinely sorry if I made anyone feel bad, but I feel like my point still stands. I’m sure I could have expressed it better to be fair, I was a prick about it in my earlier comment. Anyways, pointless having this argument here.

Der32

If the two ladies read the poster’s comment, I’m sure they would be happy. Everyone likes compliments, men and women alike. Come on.

Giuseppe Hovno

ARSENAL

Jeremy DG

Well done Saka. But seriously its a team sport. Who the fuck cares? The whole ceremony is just a corrupt la liga wankfest for idiots. Cant stand it.

Bongogooner

You wouldn’t say that if saka would of won 😉
But for now i agree with you….

UNTIL WE WIN

ARSENAL ARSENAL ARSENAL

Jeremy DG

I absolutely would. Of course id be delighted for him but it wouldn’t change my opinion.

gooner

That’s the thing when you think about it. He can’t win it because he’s not in La Liga. These whole award things are pointless and almost always are a thing for a Madrid or Barcelona player.

Gunnermite

That’s the thing about the English media I don’t get, they are always ranting and making a lot of silly noises and yet are so silent on how this award scheme is so biased on epl players. It’s like no matter how good you are, you’ll have to move to laliga to win it. It’s pathetic.

Teryima Adi

It beggars belief my brother. It’s like segregation in football. Because of this La Liga( Real Madrid and Barcelona) have become a Mecca of sort for footballers where they go to chase the Holy Grail of the BdO.

Man Manny

Arsene Wenger never warmed up to them individual awards. “It makes no sense in a team sport,” was always his argument.

Teryima Adi

Congrats, Saka

I can only imagine that Saliba was a few months too old to be nominated (though he was 20 years old at the turn of the year) as in this calendar year he has had a significant impact on Arsenal being top of the league, Marseille finishing 2nd in Ligue Un, and he made his international debut for the World Champions, going on to play six more games.

Naked Cygan

Why and how is Gavi better than Saka? Any facts or stats? Anyone know the answer?

Zadok the Regular Dishwasher Salesman

idk but Gavi is a brilliant footballer, a warrior and a technician. Honestly fuck the Barca hierarchy for not swallowing a bunch of calm-the-fuck-down pills and waiting to build a team around Gavi and Pedri. I know most people have always hated Barca in these parts, but for me the soul of Barca was that midfield of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets, and they have two raw gems to replicate that in Gavi and Pedri who they could have promoted like we have with Ødegaard, Saka, Martinelli, ESR etc and built a balanced team around. Instead they went out and bought… Read more »

Billykrystal

Well said, feels like it will all come crashing down soon at Barca. They are on borrowed time. Wouldn’t be that shocking to see them do a Leeds. Unless Saudi Arabia decides they’d like a Spanish toy to go with their English one.

Nsikan john-charles Emah

Placing saka at 8th is a serious joke, gave has zero goal n zero assist in what yard stick are they using in giving the award

Fezec

1. Club
2. Nationality
3. Ability

Talz

‘Economic levers’; I.e. when Laporta or whoever it is has to pimp out the La Masia graduates

Plus the fact that a 2022 trophy is given out BEFORE the World Cup is mind boggling.

Death by 300,000 Passes

This time the Ballon D’Or is for the season (21-22), not for the calendar year.

Merlin’s Panini

Saka should have easily been top 5 in that list. He and Bellingham are the only two who are completely indispensable at their clubs. It’s typical Madrid/Barca bias putting Gavi and Camavinga in as the top two. Musiala is more effective at Bayern than those two are at their clubs. Good players but I don’t get how this decision has been reached.

Jeremy DG

Gavi got 2 goals and 5 assists in 35 appearances in a shit league. Saka got 11 goals and 7 assists in the toughest league in the world. Gavi played 10 games in a disastrous CL campaign, registering 0 goals and 0 assists. He also had the same stats in the 5 Europa league games he played. In 2021 Gavi scored 1 goal in 12 games for Spain. Saka scored 4 in 10 for England. Both Arsenal and Barcelona, England and Spain won no trophies last year. Gavi won because he plays for barcelona in la liga. The selection process… Read more »

Jeremy DG

Sorry , I made a mistake. Gavi played 11 games in total in Europe (Barcelona got kicked out of the CL in the group stages lol). Still 0 goals though.

A Voice in the Noise

Saka and Gavi play two completely different roles, though. Not entirely fair to compare them based and G/A contributions as Saka is a winger and Gavi is a CM.
Think Bellingham and Musiala were the more deserved winners, and Saka definitely deserved to be placed above Gvardiol! Camavinga as 2nd is weird as well, but you know where he’s playing his football, so there you go.

Jeremy DG

I agree with Bellingham and Musiala (Saka a close 3rd). This is one of the many reasons why this award is ridiculous. How do you judge such different players against one another? Output and stats? Saka wins hands down. Impact on team? I think Saka wins again. The only difference is that Gavi played in a failed european campaign last year.

Kris

The most amusing thing is that, as with any form of gaslighting, it rarely has good consequences for anyone involved. In this case Barcelona start to believe they genuinely have the two most talented young players in world football (Pedri won it the year before), plus Fati who seems to generate more media hype than either of them. A sensible club might have recognised the reason for this was the lack of senior talent and opportunities afforded to younger players in a really weak league, but seen an opportunity to have a youth project for a while, while they rebuilt… Read more »

Peter

He has a good chance of winning next year if we either win EPL or Europa Cup.

Nainsley Aitland Miles

He’s turned 21 already so I believe he’ll be too old to be nominated next year.

Bergkamps boots

La Liga PR department must have worked triple shift overtime on this one, Bellingham robbed blind and Saka is easily top four or five.

Spanish Gooner

The key part is “voted for by previous Ballon D’Or winners”. The third most recent player to win the ballon d’or playing in England was George Best…

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