Saka admits training with London rivals before committing to Arsenal

Bukayo Saka has admitted that he previously trained with the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Watford before fully committing to Arsenal.

The youngster has become an integral player for the first-team at the Emirates, despite only being 20 years-old at present, and even won the Arsenal Player of the Year award for last term.

Speaking to Sky Sports however, as reported by Football.London, he admits that it wasn’t only our club that was showing interest in him during his younger years, admitting to training with a number of other London outfits, but insists he only ever had one club in mind.

“I remember one session, and I don’t think I went to another one, but yeah, I think it was just to go and try different clubs but we always had Arsenal in our hearts.”

Asked who tried to sign him, he added: “There was Arsenal, Chelsea I was at for a bit, there was Watford, there was Tottenham.

“I think there was maybe two more but those are the ones that I can remember from the top of my head.

“Arsenal was the one I always wanted to go to. It seemed like they had a lot of faith in their youth and there was a clear pathway.

“You could see the players coming up from Hale End to London Colney, and my dad also really believed in the project and he loved Arsene Wenger a lot.

“So I think Arsenal was the club in the hearts of my family so we chose them.”

I think we can count ourselves lucky that he wasn’t swayed by the advances of our rivals, while he should also count himself lucky to have chosen correctly, as there is no guarantee he would have become half the player that he is now without our tutelage.

We may well have to fend off interest from rival clubs for his signature in the future also however, but I firmly believe that if we can continue to build and strengthen as we have in recent seasons then he will have no issue continuing to be committed to our club in the long run.

Patrick