Jay Bothroyd has claimed that Riyad Mahrez is on par with Bukayo Saka in terms of being the best right-winger in the Premier League.
The Manchester City attacker recently picked up his fourth league title with Pep Guardiola’s side, which was confirmed after Saka’s Arsenal lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest earlier this month.
With the two wingers being involved in the title race, one former Premier League player has shared his thoughts on the duo and where they rank in terms of being the best in the league.
Bothroyd hails Mahrez and Saka
Speaking in a recent video on the FourFourTwo YouTube channel, Bothroyd said this when discussing Saka.
He said: “Saka is one of the best wingers, right-wingers in the world and he’s definitely one of the best in the Premier League. For me, it’s a toss-up between Mahrez and him.”
While the 21-year-old has made more goal contributions (24) in the league this season than Mahrez (15), the Algerian has played significantly fewer minutes.
However, with the 32-year-old, who City spent £60m to sign back in 2018, having double figures for goal contributions in every league campaign he’s featured in for the Manchester club since his arrival, it’s easy to see why Bothroyd has such as high opinion of the winger.
This also highlights how much of a useful figure Mahrez has been for Guardiola’s side since his arrival, especially since he hasn’t played more than 2000 minutes in a league campaign for the club.
Moving forward, given the age gap between Saka and Mahrez, it’s clear that the Arsenal star has time on his side to potentially become one of the best attacking players the Premier League has seen, especially since he recently put pen to paper on a new deal at the north London club.
Although, whether the young Englishman gets his hands on as many league titles as the City winger has, is up in the air.
