Ever since Bukayo Saka burst into the Arsenal first team a couple of years ago, he has been Arsenal’s top scorer, he has won our Player Of The Year twice, has played in a European Champinship Final with England, and has been nominated twice for accolade of the The Best Young Player in Europe, this is all before he has even turned 21 years of age.
Saka was ever present in Mikel Arteta’s first team last season, but unsurprisingly he succumbed to a few niggling injuries at the end of last season and has not started this campaign quite so explosively.
The talks about his contract extension have been dragging on a bit but Arteta is fully confident that they will come to a successful conclusion soon. “I’m very confident that we as a club, Bukayo and his family and his agent are very much aligned on what we want to achieve.” the Boss said on Arsenal.com. “I would like that to get done because I don’t want the player or anybody distracted in the middle of the season, but those things take time and have to go through the right process.”
But Arteta has also thrown down the challenge to the 20 year-old to continue his progression and take his game to the next level. The coach said in the Evening Standard: “He has to be a ruthless winner. That’s it. Simple.
“That’s his mentality, that’s what he needs to do.
“He needs to win football matches on his own, he needs to be living this profession: tomorrow I’m going to kill the opponent. And that’s what I want from him.
“He has this ability now he’s going through a place in his career and he needs to go to the next level right now.
“And I think he has the right environment to do it – he has the right people around him to do it and he’s very willing to do it. So that’s what we have to demand.
“One of the most intelligent players I’ve come across. Very well raised and educated. And he loves this football game.
“He has all the qualities and the right people around him to be a success. That’s what we need to work on now.”
Many times last season, Saka was targetted by our opponents as our main danger man, but now with more talented players around him, the pressure should be reduced for him, so hopefully he will soon look as sharp as last season. Hopefully it will be today, against Bournemouth…
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