I tried the viral Bukayo Saka Nando's sauce and confirm the Arsenal star is a spice King

When the news broke on Tuesday morning that Arsenal star Bukayo Saka had launched his own Nando's sauce, some on the internet were quick to mock the winger for having experience bottling things. Those football fans were no doubt referring to the England penalty miss at the Euro 2020 final but, I can confirm that Saka has hit the back of the net with his PERi-PERi effort.

Calling my local Nando's ahead of time to ensure that the highly sought-after Saka sauce was in stock, I was told that the bottles had indeed arrived but only for those wanting to dine in at the restaurant. I booted up and headed out the door with a sense of anticipation I can only imagine similar to what the 22-year-old must feel when striding out at the Emirates Stadium.

The collaboration between Saka and Nando's is no huge surprise with the Gunners star appearing in an advert for the restaurant previously. The popular chain also hosted a birthday party for the star's father, so the Saka x Nando's link-up felt as natural as between the winger and Ben White down the right flank.

The Arsenal man himself explained: “The sauce mixes sweet, spiciness and smokiness. I love it and can’t wait for everyone to try it. I’ve been going to Nando’s since I was little so to have my own Peri-Peri sauce in every restaurant in the country is quite mad.

“My family’s really important to me so I wanted to make sure they liked it too. As soon as my dad said he was a fan, I knew it was the one.”

The PERi-PERi Saka sauce is only available in the bottle and not offered as one of the spices when ordering your food at Nando's. As such, I played it cool by sticking with Medium on my butterfly chicken and nabbed one of the two bottles available on my way back to the table.

Nando's advertise the Saka sauce as 'sweet, spicy and smoky', and the smokiness is definitely the most powerful of those three adjectives as I dunk my first chip into the pool of rust-coloured sauce that I have poured onto my plate. The sauce definitely packed more of an intense flavour than the out-and-out spice of some Nando's staples.

As I munched on, I was reminded of a similar sensation to that I felt when watching Saka dazzle against a struggling Newcastle United defence in North London last month. The England international was an unbridled pleasure to watch that evening and I imagine the joy he had on the pitch being similar to the mix of flavours dancing around my mouth.

The convincing Saka experience didn't stop there. Just as I'd decided the sauce was smoky and sweet, my nose started running like the winger on the break as its spicy kick began to hit on my tenth mouthful. The bottle with a Saka-faced chilli watched on as if to mock the confidence with which I had decided the PERi-PERi bottle was tame.

Nonetheless, with an intensity akin to that which Mikel Arteta demands of his Gunners side, I kept pouring more and more onto my plate. Bukayo Saka is a man full of flavour and, should the goals ever dry up in the Premier League, surely has a job saved for him in the Nando's kitchen.