Arsenal and England superstar and Team New Balance Athlete Bukayo Saka returned to his childhood neighbourhood on Wednesday 6th December, to celebrate the opening of the latest New Balance store in Westfield, White City.

Bukayo grew up a stones throw away from the new store and regularly used to visit the Westfield shopping centre. Paying homage to his younger years, Bukayo welcomed children from his former primary and secondary schools to meet him at the New Balance store. The children were selected for the exclusive event, based on academic, athletic and behavioural performance, providing an amazing incentive for pupils to focus on their education and receive the ultimate reward for their hard work.

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The event, in partnership with Meta, is part of Instagram’s ‘Elevate’ program which involves partnering with black athletes to support and elevate their voices online, help them connect with their own stories.

When asked about the event, Bukayo said ‘I used to go to Westfield a lot when I was young, so it’s beautiful for me to see a store in there with my face at the front of it now. I wanted to go and do something to celebrate the opening that would be nice for the local community and to involve kids who are growing up in a similar area to me, to hopefully encourage them to have big dreams too.’

Additionally, the event serves as a chance to promote awareness of the UK-based charity Street Soccer Foundation, a sport-for-change organization that works to better the lives of vulnerable and homeless youth nationwide by using football as a catalyst. As a longtime supporter of the organization, Bukayo most recently donated more than 100 pairs of his exclusive Furon v7 Seven Edition football boots, which were released in September.

A certain quantity of the Own Now footwear will be available at the New Balance Westfield White City shop as a memento of the occasion. The highly sought-after boots are exclusively available at a few merchants and will only be in stock for a brief period of time.