Graeme Souness has launched a savage attack on Bukayo Saka and accused the Arsenal talisman of being ‘a cheat’ who ‘dives all over place’.
The Liverpool legend took the England international to task in the wake of Sunday’s win over Nottingham Forest during which Neco Williams received a caution for bringing down his opponent, despite having made minimal contact.
Saka regularly features among the lists of the Premier League’s most-fouled players, but Souness believes he is guilty of overreacting, while his teammates failed to escape the 73-year-old’s ire and stood accused of applying pressure and attempting to influence match officials.
Souness dug into the winger on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored show, leaving his host outraged.
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‘Your man Saka dives all over the place. I don’t want to hear about him. The minute he looks like losing possession, he’s down,’ he said.
‘He simulates a foul. Anyone who simulates a foul in my book would be a cheat.
‘He dives when he should be staying on his feet. He’s not alone. So Saka gets tackled, he screams as he’s going down.
‘The referee thinks there’s nothing in that but wait a minute, he’s stayed down. And then worse than that, everyone in the immediate area – all Arsenal players – put their hands up and scream foul.
‘The referee at that point panics and blows his whistle when it wasn’t a foul – his first instinct was the right one.
‘But he blows a foul because he’s thinking, wait a minute, something I’m not understanding here.
‘Simulation is a form of cheating, yes. But it’s all over football today.
‘If you asked 100 people what is it you dislike about the modern game, 50 per cent would say simulation, another 50 per cent would say VAR.’