A top Arsenal star expressed his absolute admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Arsenal’s No. 1 star in attack – Bukayo Saka has surprisingly revealed that he idolized legendary Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United and Real Madrid as a child, not a player of The Gunners.

Saka also praised the 39-year-old striker for his perseverance in his career and admitted that he himself could not play professionally for that long. 

Speaking on the Men in Blazers podcast , the Arsenal winger said: “Personally, I can’t imagine playing as long as Ronaldo, and that’s why I respect him so much. Obviously, When I was young, Ronaldo was my love, my idol.”

“But now that I’m playing professional football, I respect him even more, the way Ronaldo stays disciplined and focused and achieves everything he sets out to do, so Ronaldo is special.”

Cristiano Ronaldo joined Man United in 2003 and left the club six years later to join Real Madrid, when Saka was just eight years old. Ronaldo continued to play for Juventus before returning briefly to Old Trafford in 2021. In January 2023, the 39-year-old left Europe to sign for Al Nassr of the Saudi Pro League.

Both Ronaldo and Saka are in good form in the current season. While CR7 has scored 28 goals in 30 matches in all competitions for Al Nassr, Saka has scored 16 goals and contributed 15 assists to help Arsenal maintain the title race this season.

Saka is not the only young star who grew up admiring Ronaldo. A series of names like Kylian Mbappe, Alejandro Garnacho or Erling Haaland… have all idolized Ronaldo since childhood and took the Portuguese striker as their role model.