Arsenal midfielder Jorginho has backed teammate Bukayo Saka to win a Ballon d’Or in the future if the star winger can nail one of the weaker parts of his game.

Saka has been a star of Arsenal’s resurgence under Mikel Arteta over the past five years, already making 287 senior club and international appearances by the age of 23 years and three months.

Already this season alone, Saka has contributed 18 goals and assists in 18 games for Arsenal. His current tally of ten Premier League assists is halfway to the competition’s single-season record, jointly held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne, with 25 games still to play.

Appearing as a guest on Rio Ferdinand Presents, Jorginho described Saka as “Unbelievable…world class”.

The Euro 2020 winner revealed: “I said to [Saka], ‘I want to see you win the Ballon d’Or’.I believe [he can]. I believe in him… I hope he believes in himself as well.”

For Jorginho, the key is Saka turning up his in-game impact even more, suggesting he can achieve that by making sure he gets into important positions in the penalty area when the ball is on the opposite flank. Part of Cristiano Ronaldo’s ascent from young potential to world class superstar in  2006 and 2007 was the mental understanding of how he could used his talent to change games.

“For me now, the thing he needs to go more now, it’s his hunger to get in the box when he’s on the weak side,” Jorginho said of Saka. “I want to see headers from him, [on] crosses from the left side.

“Easy [he can score more goals]. Easy with that. Let’s see how far he can get. And for me, it’s the little thing that he’s missing because sometimes the ball is on the other side and I can see it’s coming. I was like, ‘Get in there’. And he’s not there.”

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