Noel Whelan believes Arsenal has developed to a level where they can keep their best players and Bukayo Saka will be hard for Manchester City to sign.
The attacker still needs to sign a contract extension at the club, which has piqued the interest of City, and the EPL champions could move for him.
Saka is one of the finest English players around now and proved his worth at the World Cup before the Three Lions exited the competition.
As talks with Arsenal drags on, City will be confident they can steal him from the Emirates, but Whelan believes that will be too difficult now.
He said to Football Insider:
“Arsenal have progressed under Arteta, they will be challenging – and that will have been the big demand for a player like Saka.
“Two years ago you couldn’t have said that.
“I think this season has been a head-turner for the Arsenal players, and they realise now that they can achieve anything by staying at the club.
“It would take something extraordinary to prise him away from that project, in my opinion.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Saka has become a global superstar, so we expect other clubs to become interested in a move for him.
The youngster has continued to develop well, but he is still very young and we expect him to remain loyal to his roots.
As he returns from the World Cup break, the club should speed up their interest in keeping him.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Reiss Nelson talks about playing more, his contract and Arsenal DNA…
Please enjoy, watch and subscribe to JustArsenalVids
Prior to the world cup, I was thinking £180,000 a week should be good, am afraid that’s through the window now.
The delay of Saka to sign a new contract has certainly work in his favor, that’s how it goes when you have smart people in your corner.
Now I can’t see anything under £220, 000 that can be put on the table for him to sign on the dotted lines.
But Arsenal must now treat these three lads contract as priority