Bukayo Saka - The Football Interview

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If there was a big red button that would just demolish the internet, I would smash that button with my forehead. From the BBC, this is The Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work, your politics, your everyday life. And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:40The Football Interview on the Football Daily Podcast. I'm Kelly Summers and this season I'll be interviewing some of the biggest names in football, asking them the questions they don't normally get asked, as I try to find out more about the person behind the player. The first half will be on football, the second on their life away from the pitch. This isn't just any interview, this is the Football Interview. And this week I'm joined by someone who is living his boyhood dream. He's grown up supporting Arsenal and now he is one of their key players. It's Bukayo Saka.

1:24Bukayo, it's good to see your smiling face once again. Let's try and get to know you a little bit better. We'll start with the football. Why football? Football is happiness to me, so from you. The moment I realised that it existed, you know, it was all I ever wanted to do. Was there ever any chance of it being anything else? Not in my head. Maybe in my parents or, you know, obviously they tried to, obviously made sure I had a plan B, which is, of course, sensible, but in my head, you know, it was only football. What is your first memory of playing the game? Playing in my back garden with my brother and my dad.

1:57It was 2v1, actually. It was me against them, and they're both older than me. So you were always the one and they were always the two. Yeah, yeah, but I would never lose. I would not accept it. Even if I was losing, I would not accept it. I would cry, I would do anything. That tells me quite a lot about your mentality. And it started young. How young are we talking? We're talking maybe four, five years old. Wow. From that early. And you had that love for the game back then and that competitive edge. Can you remember the first team that you played for? Yeah, Greenfield Solid. What do you remember of playing for them?

2:30I remember everything from the kit to the games. What was the kit? Talk me through it. Give me a picture of it. Green stripes with white stripes. Had like a Celtic logo. We used to play in like a local park after the game. Boots muddy completely. You have to slap them against the trees. Proper football isn't it? Proper football, yeah. So I remember everything. It was a really important chapter of my life and I enjoyed it as well. What kind of age were you when you joined that team? I would have been maybe six. At what point did you think, OK, I'm quite good at this? I know you're humble, so you won't want to say ever, but there must have been a moment where you looked around and thought, hold on, I'm maybe a little bit better.

3:07You can be humble and also believe that you're good as well. I think there's nothing wrong with both and they can both be together. And I think I had that from young, but I just never thought about it. I was just enjoying the game and I was good at it. So it made it even more fun. What position were you back then? Because obviously we've seen you play left back here. always sitting down the wing. Were you always going to be an attacker? I was always going to be a winger, I'd say. Obviously, that was the first position I played on the left wing when I was growing up. And then, of course, it's always been Arsenal, hasn't it?

3:39Can you remember when you found out that you were going to be signing here? I remember my dad telling me I got scouted because it was different. You know, you've got a scout card. Scouts would have come to watch you at a local team. And also, they gave my dad a card, said, call me, we'll set up a trial. So I remember first coming into Haylen. How did you feel? I didn't even feel an ounce of fear, you know. I was just like, I'm just going to play football, just enjoy it. And I played so good. I think I trialled at the B team. I played so good, they put me in the A team. And from there, signed. And yeah, I've been at Arsenal ever since.

4:12Was it always Arsenal for you? Yeah. Well, at that point of my career, the decisions were more made by your parents. You know, you're just a kid. You don't really, do you know what I'm saying? Do what you're told. Yeah. And my dad made it clear to me, Arsenal was the club. I want you out. And I said, OK, let's go. Good decision from dad, that wasn't it? Yeah, great decision. Why did he want you to come here? What was it about Arsenal? No, he believed in Arsenal, believed in the pathway and it was visible. You know, you could see players and obviously Arsenal Wenger at the time how much he believed in the academy, how much he wanted to use the academy.

4:44Also the class, you know, that Arsenal have and the football that they play. So all of that was just perfect for him and he just wanted me to be here. How special is it being an Arsenal fan playing for Arsenal for kids? That's so many young kids' dreams. It's just a dream come true, obviously, growing up, going to the stadium and watching Arsenal play in so many different games and to now being the one on the pitch and all the people watching you and all the stuff that comes with it, you know, family, you know, that used to talk about Arsenal and now it's you. It's so many different aspects of it that makes it so beautiful and I'm just enjoying it every moment still.

5:18So did you used to come and watch Arsenal as a kid? Of course, yeah. And I bet now you must have so many ticket requests for all the games. Ask the boys. Can you remember, because not every young boy makes it, you all want to, that's the dream, but can you remember a time, even going through the academy, where you thought, OK, I'm going to make it to the first team? I remember being in the change room one time, we just played a game, our team was so good, we just smashed the team. Coach came in, I think it was Greg, Greg Lincoln, and he came in and said, listen, boys, look around. like it's an unbelievable team but only one of you is going to make it maybe even two and I just remember that day just thinking oh my god it needs to be me that it has to be me and I guess that's what a lot of young boys and girls don't realize isn't it it's such a small percentage that make it yeah I don't think maybe coaches they won't tell all the boys because some boys it can put fear into them and it might make them a bit less confident but um for me it just it made it so clear to me you know that this is not like it's not going to be all perfect and roses forever you know you have to work for this and for me it helped me a lot which coach or former teammate would you say has had the biggest impact on your career it's tough to say i always speak about how much um david louise and um they both helped me a lot coming into the team the way they welcomed me you know for me i was i was quite quiet you know obviously coming into arsenal these are like my heroes you know players that i was watching from the stands and i get to play with them now so it's a bit of a different experience for me and i didn't know how to handle it i didn't want to you know rub anyone off the wrong way so i was just preferred to be a bit more quiet but these guys they welcomed me and helped me feel myself and then gave me advice you know and gave me confidence that push you know and you know you could see it when i was on the pitch you know the confidence i was playing with um it was definitely helped by them and um obviously the rest of my teammates as well that helped me too if you could relive one match from your career what would it be because it went bad or because it was a good moment probably because well you can do bad if you want but i'd say good but if you want to do bad a game where you really thought i'm i'm at the peak here i'm not the peak but i'm doing well because you'll tell me you haven't reached your peak yet no i haven't i don't like to think like that it's a good question to be fair maybe we come back to it maybe okay all right yeah let's get to know bukayo saka the person a a little bit better then.

7:36What's your full name? Kayao Saka. Have you got middle names? I've got middle names. You want to know everything? Yeah, yeah, tell me. It's on Wikipedia. You can go on there. I don't use that for my research, Kayao. Okay. My name is Kayao Moses Ayojenka Temidayo Saka. And that's because of your Nigerian roots, isn't it? Are you proud of those? Yeah, I'm very proud of those, yeah. Yeah, is that a big thing in your family? Yeah, 100%. Both my parents grew up in Nigeria, so a lot of their values is installed in me. Talk me through a typical day in your childhood then. Who was at home? Being at home, I just remember when she waking up, we'd have breakfast.

8:12My mum would normally have gone to work. My dad was always around. And if he had to go to work, it was just me and my brother, but they'd always leave us breakfast and hot cross bun with a sausage, like a sausage cut up. Frankfurt, do you know Frankfurt? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and some ketchup. That was my breakfast. Hold on. A sausage roll and a hot cross bun together? A sausage roll. You put a sausage and a hot cross bun together. You cut the hot cross bun, you cut the sausage up, put it in the hot cross bun, then put ketchup, then close the hot cross bun. I've got so many questions about that. I'm not sure about that.

8:42Unreal. Credit to my dad, my mum. I don't know whose idea it was, one of them. You don't still have that now, do you? Nah. Not the most nutritious. Not anymore. It helped me growing up, though. Yeah, maybe that's the secret and why you're here today, but in my eyes that's a bit weird, but that's fine. Fair enough, fair enough. What were you like at school? Yeah, I was quite bright at school. I felt I was able to pick the information on quite quickly. I was good at understanding it, all the different subjects that they were explaining and teaching. So, yeah, I said I was a good learner. And your GCSEs, I mean, you've said before what you got, but just remind me what your grades were.

9:16Oh, man, I think it was around four A stars on four A's. I can't remember exactly, but it's online somewhere. It's a long time ago. Who's the first person you speak to after a game? Depends how I'm feeling. OK, you've won. Who do you pick up the phone to? I'm not really a big phone call person. I mean, I would text my brother. Or is there someone that texts you? I get a lot of texts. Popular guy. Yeah. That's what happens when you're playing for Arsenal. I get a lot of texts. Especially if you win or you spoil, you know, a lot of people want to congratulate you, which is nice, you know. What's an ideal day off looking like for you?

9:47What would you like to do if you want to escape from football? Ideal day off, wake up in the morning, go for a walk by myself. Do you like time to yourself? Yeah, yeah. Recently, more than ever, I like going for walks, you know, like nature, just relax. I think it's so peaceful, it's nice. Come back, have some breakfast, and then probably go into London, just get some food with my closest people, something I like doing, going to restaurants and stuff like that. Have even more energy, maybe some shopping. And yeah, just enjoying that side of things, you know, if it's a full day off. I always find this question hard when people ask me, but what are your hobbies?

10:21My hobbies? Football. Recently, I like making coffees. OK, you're a barista. I think I'm a part-time barista now. I'm trying to learn how to do the art. That's hard. You're good? It's so hard. So hard, isn't it? No, but I'm getting there, I'm getting better. What do you normally do? No, I do a flat white. Oh, you mean, what do I draw? I haven't been able to draw anything yet. Oh, so you're still... Yeah, I'm still... A junior. I'm going to take lessons soon. I'm going to take lessons soon. Interesting. What's your proudest moment of your career today? I think I'd say where I am now. You know, the circumstances I grew up in and the ups and downs and the challenges, setbacks or whatever that I've dealt with and to still be here today and in the position I'm in, going strong, still focused, motivated and happy, I think it's probably something that gets overlooked and something I can definitely be proud of.

11:12You know as I get a bit older, you understand you know that you know sometimes you can't always you know be fully invested in football 24-7, you need to have a good balance and give your mind some time to switch off as well and you know enjoy the other aspects of life too at what point did you get to realize that was there a moment you thought yeah hold on this isn't the be all and end all i need to be able to step away to be the best on the pitch i think it was last season when i got injured like before then i was like almost like a autopilot you know game of the game recovery game and i didn't really you know taken anything else um but obviously when you get injured you can't do what you love you can't play football so I was literally in the brace in the crutches for almost a month and and you have to like you can't play football no you have to entertain yourself in other ways so like it just opened up that part of my brain to different sides of things and I think since then it's been like you know there's more there's a bit more to life than football it's not just not just football but um at the same time football is my life so it's like just trying to find a balance you know and because I'm still you know the same dedication the same motivation but just trying to find that little break and switch off as well at the same time if you could only achieve one more thing yeah in your life what would it be my career yeah I think that's obvious pretty obvious all the trophies Arsenal and England it's definitely something I want to achieve in my career so if you give me that option then yeah I'll take that and how would you describe the Bukayo Saka sitting in front of me I've sat down with you before I remember sitting down with you at 2021 and you feel like not a different player but the way you speak in is with such maturity and confidence now that i think maybe you didn't have before would you describe a guy a second up i think i explained a bit earlier like just you know the natural evolution um the player and person i was what was expected of me and the life i lived then is completely to the one now you know naturally as you go from there to there um you learn different things you mature you grow stuff like that so yeah I think that's probably the biggest difference.

13:16You still like having fun though don't you because I know you're one of the jokers in the dressing room as well. It's the most important thing I think have fun, smile, laugh every day I think you can't miss that you can't no matter what you can't miss that. Ok, thank you for your time today, it's been a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you.

13:36This winter cricket's oldest rivalry is reignited. England and Australia do battle to compete for the Ashes. That is extraordinary. Hear live ball-by-ball commentary on 5 Sports Extra. And get analysis and reaction of every day's play with the Test Match Special podcast. The steps are on the ground. Test Match Special at the Ashes. Listen on BBC Sounds. If there was a big red button that would just demolish the internet, I would smash that button with my forehead. From the BBC, this is The Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews.

14:27It's about what technology is actually doing to your work, your politics, your everyday life. And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.