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Emmanuel Petit believes Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka are the future of England following their opening FIFA World Cup win.
The Three Lions hammered Iran 6-2 in Qatar on November 21, with Bellingham beginning the rout and Saka scoring a brace. England have an incredibly young and exciting team present at the tournament, with Petit naming three players aged 21 or under as his future stars in the squad.
Former Arsenal midfielder Petit was particularly impressed with the performance of Saka, who missed England's crucial penalty in their European Championship final defeat last summer. The 1998 FIFA World Cup winner told Compare.bet:
"I’m very impressed with him as a person and a player. He’s a humble guy, hard worker, respectful. He keeps focused on his ambitions. After everything he has been through – the criticism and the racism, he has been incredible on and off the pitch.
"He is the future of Arsenal and the future of England. He, Bellingham and Foden are the future of the England team. It is so important to have players like Saka, they are priceless. Players that are professional, humble, respectful. I rate him so high and he can still improve a lot."
He added:
"He’s grown so much in the last 2-3 years, and he has already done so many beautiful things and he can still do so much more. He’s improved every year and is showing he is capable of taking the next step."
Glen Johnson compares England star Bukayo Saka to Arjen Robben after storming FIFA World Cup debut
Saka has been in sparkling form this season for Arsenal and he carried that into England's opening game of the FIFA World Cup.
Former Three Lions defender Glen Johnson compared the winger to the Netherlands legend Arjen Robben, as he told Metro:
"Bukayo Saka is up there, but you can’t say you’re one of the world’s best if you haven’t done it in and around the biggest and best tournaments. Of course, he’s a fantastic player and showed against Iran what he can do, but let’s not get carried away because it’s the easiest game in the tournament.
"If Saka keeps performing the way he is and does this throughout the whole tournament, it definitely puts him in that category. Saka reminds me of Arjen Robben, seriously left footed but that’s not a bad thing because his left foot is that good."
He continued:
"Saka is his own player too, he works hard, he’s quick and a serious goal threat, I like him a lot."
England's next World Cup Group B fixture is against the USA on November 25.
