Comparing how long it took Bukayo Saka to reach 100 Premier League G+A with Cristiano Ronaldo
Bukayo Saka has notched his 100th Premier League goal contribution in his 200th appearance for Arsenal in the competition – but how does that compare to his boyhood idol Cristiano Ronaldo?
Only six players in Premier League history have reached 100 combined goals and assists at a younger age than Saka – Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Robbie Fowler, Cesc Fabregas, Romelu Lukaku and Ronaldo.
Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland were also 24 years old when they notched their 100th Premier League goal contribution, but Saka is younger. He only celebrated his birthday last month.
“I can’t imagine playing for as long as Ronaldo,” Saka told Men In Blazers.
“When I was younger, CR7 was my idol. Now that I’m playing football professionally, I have even more respect for him. How he’s managed to stay this disciplined & this focused & achieve everything he’s achieved”
To put Ronaldo’s longevity in context, Saka was just two years old when Ronaldo made his Premier League debut for Manchester United on the opening weekend of the 2003-04 Premier League season.
The Portuguese winger was a teenager when he made his bow in a 4-0 thrashing of Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers, having been signed that summer after catching the eye in a pre-season friendly, turning out for Sporting Lisbon against United.
Ronaldo was raw in his early years at Old Trafford and took time to develop into the devastatingly efficient goalscorer he became in his Ballon d’Or-winning peak years, but he still demonstrated his immense potential by needing just 169 appearances to notch the milestone of a century of goals and assists.
Saka, by contrast, took time to nail down his spot for his boyhood Gunners.
The Hale End academy graduate was handed his Premier League debut by Unai Emery on New Year’s Day 2019, a late substitute in a comfortable 4-1 victory over Fulham not long after his 17th birthday.
But that was the only appearance that Saka made that season. He had to wait nine months to get his second opportunity, and it was only really after Mikel Arteta’s appointment in December 2019 that he really nailed down a spot as a regular starter.
Fast forward five years and he’s made it to a hundred goal contributions (55 goals, 45 assists) with a coolly-dispatched penalty in the Gunners’ routine 2-0 victory over West Ham.
Here’s how Saka’s 100 goals and assists milestone compares to Ronaldo’s:
Bukayo Saka
Games: 200
Age: 24 years, 29 days
Time Since Debut: 6 years, 9 months, 3 days
Goals: 55
Penalties: 12 ⭐
Assists: 45 ⭐
Minutes per goal: 282
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 360
Minutes per goal or assist: 155
Cristiano Ronaldo
Games: 169
Age: 23 years, 8 months, 24 days ⭐
Time Since Debut: 5 years, 2 months, 13 days ⭐
Goals: 70 ⭐
Penalties: 8
Assists: 30
Minutes per goal: 175 ⭐
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 198 ⭐
Minutes per goal or assist: 122 ⭐
READ NEXT: ‘He embarrassed me’ – Bukayo Saka’s toughest ever opponent announces retirement
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Arsenal’s XI from Bukayo Saka’s debut in 2018?