Gary Lineker sends message to 'wonderful' Arsenal player

Gary Lineker has sent a message to Arsenal star Bukayo Saka after he was named the Men's Young Player of the Year at the London Football Awards.

Saka defeated competition from Gunners team-mates William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli, Crystal Palace's Michael Olise and Millwall's Billy Mitchell to win the award.

The 21-year-old did lose out on the Men's Player of the Year award, with fellow Arsenal star Martin Odegaard picking up that accolade.

Saka has scored 10 goals and provided nine assists in the Premier League this campaign, with each player judged based on their performances throughout the most recent calendar year.

And following the award win, Lineker was one of many to direct praise towards the winger.

Lineker sends message to Arsenal star Saka

Taking to Twitter after Saka received the award, Lineker wrote: "An incredible impressive young man and a wonderful footballer. Congratulations @BukayoSaka87."

After winning his award, Saka used to his speech to dedicate the accolade to young children in London who aspire to be in his position.

"I want to dedicate it to all the children that are growing up in London with big dreams. I was once in their shoes and it's always nice to remember that.

"It always makes winning things like this more special."

Lineker, meanwhile, will return to host live football on the BBC this weekend after the corporation took him off air for Saturday's edition of Match of the Day.

The England legend posted a tweet which criticised the government's new immigration policy. He called it an "immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".

A significant number of his BBC Sport colleagues, including Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Mark Chapman and Alex Scott, informed the corporation they would not be working on programmes scheduled for the weekend following news of Lineker's suspension.

MOTD was restricted to a 20-minute highlights programme on Saturday, with no studio presentation or commentary, whilst Sunday's Women's Super League clash between Chelsea and Manchester United was aired with world feed commentary.