Bukayo Saka is the happiest man at Arsenal this week

What a week for Bukayo Saka!

Our young England stars have a habit of catching the eyes of international managers, don’t they?

It was not long ago that Ainsley Maitland-Niles impressed for Arsenal on his birthday, in the Community Shield final and got a call up to the senior England squad on the same day.

Forward on a few weeks and a similar situation has occurred for Bukayo Saka, but this time it was the other way around. First, he received his first call-up to the senior England squad by Gareth Southgate and then he performed well, as we once more beat Liverpool 5-4 on penalties to reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, and then he got the opening goal for Arsenal against Sheffield yesterday.

Saka couldn’t hide his happiness after the game yesterday. “It’s been a really special week with the call-up, going through to the next round of the Carabao Cup and now getting the win again and scoring the goal,” he told Arsenal.com.

“I don’t score too many headers! I’m really happy with this one and it’s such an important goal as well, I’m happy.

“I’m so happy with this week and I’m just hoping that I can continue to have weeks like this going forward.

“Words can’t really describe how proud I am [to be in the England squad], how happy I am and how excited I am to go tomorrow. I’m going to go home, celebrate a little with my family and then pack my bags to get away early tomorrow morning.”

On hearing of Saka’s call up, Mikel Arteta was also full of praise for young Bukayo, stating: “I’m extremely happy with him – he totally deserves that chance. He’s a really humble boy who’s willing to learn every single day. He works really hard and he has an incredible talent. It’s a combination of everything you need to be successful and I think that call-up is going to fill him with confidence even more, and I’m really happy for him. That ability, versatility and unpredictability that he gives to the team is special. As well, the way he reads the different situations in areas that we want to provoke during games and then also the personality that he plays with. He comes here to Anfield and he wants every ball, he works for every challenge and I think he put in a really good performance today.”

So, is it safe to say that Gareth Southgate will have a diamond in his ranks for the upcoming internationals? Well let’s hope he uses him in the best way possible, and that Bukayo then returns to Arsenal after the international break full of even more confidence in his ability.

It looks like we have a real diamond on our hands, don’t we Gooners?

Shenel Osman