A 7-year-old pupil from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Ryde has been quoted in the national media after writing to Arsenal and England star, Bukayo Saka, to commiserate with him on missing a penalty in the Euro Cup final against Italy.
In a video published on Arsenal’s Twitter profile and the BBC News website on Wednesday, which has been seen over 2.3million times, Bukayo Saka can be heard quoting Teddy Gregory’s letter. The 19-year-old football star also published Teddy’s letter on his own Twitter profile.
The 7-year-old’s kind comments have been quoted in the Daily Mail too.
Teddy wrote:
“I hope you are not sad anymore. If you was here with me, I would buy you an ice cream from the ice cream van with my pocket money and we would play football in the park, and I would let you win. But really you would beat me because you are so good.
“Even Father Christmas knows how good you are because he got me the Arsenal kit with your name on it.”
When Teddy Gregory found out that his Arsenal hero had read his letter, he said:
“I felt happy and good. I wanted to cry. I felt nice inside. Saka is my favourite player; he is very skilful and fast on the ball. I want to be like Saka when I grow up.
“I don’t want to play for Portsmouth. I don’t want to play for Southampton. I definitely don’t want to play for Spurs. I want to play for Arsenal.”
Teddy comes from a family of Arsenal supporters, who moved to the Isle of Wight from North London. His mother, Elizabeth, said:
“Football is everything to Teddy from the time he wakes up in the morning. I would like to pay tribute to the teaching staff at St Mary’s for encouraging him to write.”
💬 "How do I even say thank you for all of this?"
Just look at the incredible love and support from our fans to @BukayoSaka87
Thank you ❤️ pic.twitter.com/vznIV7Ubmn
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 4, 2021
Teddy’s class were asked to pen a letter to the England players after the Euro final defeat to Italy, as previously reported by Island Echo. When Teddy came home from school, he decided to write his own personal message to Bukayo Saka, without any help from the school’s teaching staff.
The black England players were reportedly subject to social media racial abuse after England’s Euro final defeat. However, it should be noted that much of this abuse originated from accounts not located in England itself.
When Bukayo Saka returned to training this week after a well-deserved holiday, he was confronted with a wall of supportive messages from well-wishers. Bukayo said via his Twitter account:
“This was amazing to come back to! I want to thank everyone who has sent me supportive messages and gifts. I’ve seen, read and appreciate every one of you. I hope we all continue to spread love and joy.”
Well done young man for writing your letter,and well done to the English football team for an incredible performance to reach the final of a major tournament.