There have been many worrying recent rumours about the Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp having an unhealthy interest in Arsenal’s rising young star Bukayo Saka, and although us fans may consider it to be utterly ridiculous, the fact is that the Gunners may be forced to sell the 20 year-old if Edu and Areta can’t convince him to sign a contract extension.
So now, at least Mikel Arteta has confirmed that there will be in depth discussions with Saka and his family…
Arteta told the Standard: “It is a conversation we are going to have with the player, then his agent, his family — [talks] which are going to be extremely important as well — so everybody is on board.
“Obviously, our desire is to keep Bukayo as long as possible, because we are really happy. He is part of our club, our DNA, he is growing, he is maturing.
“His importance in the team is unquestionable and we want to keep our best talent, that’s for sure.”
There is no doubt that any new contract will come with a massive pay rise, which may have to match whatever Liverpool or other clubs would be willing to offer our England international if he refused our deal.
Arteta also wanted to emphasise the importance of allowing our youngsters to develop instead of bringing in proven stars which could hamper the development or our rising protogees, specifically Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli and Saka.
“Here there are two things,” Arteta continued. “It’s trying to build a squad that you have room for those players to develop, and the other one is to have those players developing when we are extremely competitive.
“Because if you sign three top players, and then those kids start not playing, what happens? You cannot have it both ways. If you sign big players, with big money, the money has to be on the pitch — which means that these players are not going to be on the pitch.
“So we need to find the balance, but with the standards that this club requires, which is to be the best. This is what we are trying to do, but without killing what is growing.”
So this is interesting, as it means that he would only bringing in players as backups to our youngsters in the summer, or more like more promising youngsters to develop with us as well.
It’s certainly going to be a fine balancing act while not trying to upset anyone….
WATCH – Mikel Arteta discusses the Wolves win and Arsenal’s red cards
If Saka doesn’t want to extend his contract for whatever reason, arsenal sell him this summer while his market value is at its peak (will drop a lot by 2023 summer) for something around 80mil and find a good replacement from that money, i am pretty sure there are plenty of comparable good winger out here when you have around 80mil to spend as direct replacement. so yeah, no worries about him doesn’t want to extend his contract.
Big club act like a big club.
They should not force him to sign contract if he wish to play for us fine and if he wish to go elsewhere no problem is not a kid again he knows what is good for him and his families,if any suitors come with nice offer and he refused to sign they should sell him and get better player to replace him sharp sharp no player’s big than my Almighty Arsenal,I don’t want another auba situation in that team again
I feel like Arteta is still struggling.
May be when he get his own striker and another midfielder to replace Xhaka.
It just feels like the team still has no identity or set style of play. Just disjointed as Always.
I believe we aren’t getting the best out of Saka but for Arsenals sake and the future, he needs to stay. I have to admit though he would do better under Klopp or Pep.
@Reggie
Ten Haag would turn him into a world beater…IJS
Unfortunately we are going to miss out on ten Haag if the rumours are true about the club offering a new contract for continuing failure
this would be a tough pill to swallow, as he’s the most obvious upgrade, especially considering our present roster…if we miss out on him it could be slim pickings until another manager of consequence was either terminated or wasn’t re-upped
agree wholeheartedly Reggie with your assessment of Saka…to me, he felt like far more of a threat, each and every time he touched the ball, when he was playing on the left during his more formative performances
I just feel we are bogged down when we attack, the system and tactics are not freeing our strikers. You watch many others teams and they look to open teams up with the way they artack, we always look like we are easily read, hence players dont show their full abilities.
no doubt…it’s amateur hour from a tactical perspective, which is why some want to grasp at straws whenever a “tactical” decision comes good, even when it was a coaching 101 maneuver, like when Holding came on with us down to 10 men
one has to wonder why we were so quick to re-up ESR, considering his sale potential, if he was only going to be a bench player tucked in behind Ode, who I feel provides far less of what we really need here…of course, I’m speaking of our glaring lack of directness without ESR on the pitch
ESR showed Odergaard up last season, Arteta seems determined to prove a point, that for me isnt working. Odergaard is tidy but is a pretty neutral type player without that extra hear. Our attacks look slow when Odergaard plays. ESR starts ahead of him all day for me. I dont like the way he is being kept on the bench, when it is clear we are struggling with the lack of flare Odergaard brings to the table.
Extra gear!
I’m not a fan of our lack of a presence in the middle of the pitch, in the opposing half of course….Ode seems to tuck wide right, likely to compensate for our lack of overlapping runs from the RB position or so that he can turn back into more central positions on his dominant foot…then you have Laca coming deeper, at the expense of our ability to pursue more direct paths forward…obviously this is done under the guise that he can generate some purposeful link-up play, but more often than not he simply flops for fouls, which naturally slows things down and allows the opposing team to find their defensive shape…it’s likely why Xhaka was released farther forward at times on Thursday…MA undoubtedly felt that he would be better positioned to provide direct passes in behind from a more advanced location, but nothing ever materialized….in the main this just led to more sideways football and cheap giveaways
Agree TRVL, thats how i see it.