Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admitted that he is keen to manage the playing load of Bukayo Saka, who has racked up a large amount of minutes in recent campaigns.
The young winger, who turned 21 this week, is a regular in the England side, as well as representing one of the most important players within our club side.
Saka has won the Arsenal Player of the Year award for both of our last two seasons, which only moves to highlight just how crucial he is to our side’s progress, but there has been a growing concern over whether we will burn him out.
With the World Cup coming up mid-season also, those worries will be amplified, and the manager has admitted that while he wants the chance to rest him, the club’s results and standing will impact whether he is able to give his young star as much rest as would be recommended.
“We will try,” Arteta told the media in Switzerland (as quoted by Arsenal’s official website). “If the squad and performances allow us, we’ll try our best to manage his load and get him on the field in the best possible condition. After November we have something that we have never experienced before. ”
There is definitely worries over the long-term future of Saka if we do continue to play him heavily, and given the wealth of young talent in our squad, you would imagine that we would be able to find time to give him a rest. Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira have struggled to prove their fitness so far this term however, but hopefully when both are ready we will have strong competition for places in attack.
Do you want to see Saka start in tomorrow’s line-up despite his heavy workload? Is he too important to be benched in the Premier League?
Patrick
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