Ashley Cole has urged Bukayo Saka to find one position and become a specialist there if he wants to become a world-class player.
The Englishman has thrived in the current Arsenal team mostly because of his versatility.
Mikel Arteta has used him in a variety of positions including as a left-back, a right and a left-winger.
This has helped him to gain more playing time and has been important to the team getting good results.
Cole says Arteta would like that as a manager because the teenager makes his work easy.
However, it isn’t good for Saka as a player and Cole even said the gaffer is simply using and abusing him by playing him in a variety of positions.
Speaking on Sky, Cole said as quoted by Sun Sports: “As Jamie [Redknapp] says, [he’s] a shining light in this Arsenal team. He plays with courage, [he’s] fearless at times.
“But I just feel when you don’t cement down one position, it’s very, very difficult to nail that down and be a top, top player.
“As a manager, you love it because he’s adaptable and he can play in three or four positions, which is brilliant.
“But I feel for him at times because I think he’s kind of used and abused.”
Saka is one of the top players at Arsenal and he would hope to finally get a regular playing spot in the team at the start of next season.
Nevertheless, he should always be willing to help the team out in other positions when the need arises.
Arteta doesn’t play players in the same place, he tinkers every game, different positions, different formations and different personnel.
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Sound advice from Cole on this occasion.As I mentioned in the previous article on ESR ,Saka is a natural left winger and that ,I believe is where he will be most effective.Playing him as a RWB did not make sense and proved to be another mistake by Arteta who will hopefully not make the same error again.Last night Saka was, quite frankly, poor , but he should never have been put in that position by his Manager particularly when we had no fewer than three right backs on the bench.