Bukayo Saka Is A Powerful Talent, And Arsenal Should Have Him In The Team As Long As Possible

Published: July 10, 2020

The best clubs in Europe are already fighting for a universal Englishman who is of Nigerian origin.

Ever since the days of Arsene Wenger, Arsenal have been able to find talents who turned into real diamonds.

One of the main young hopes of the current Arsenal is the 18-year-old Bukayo Saka. Last season, the youngster modestly ran in the second team of the Gunners.

In this season, Saka was deployed on the flank and became a regular player. The versatile player earned many compliments.

Who is Saka?

A football player of Nigerian descent, Bukayo Saka was born in London and from the age of eight, he has played at the Gunners Academy.

Moreover, the football player’s parents were rooting for the Gunners. At 17, Saka signed a professional contract with Arsenal.

The player began the 2018/19 season in the usual U-18 squad and having spent just a few games there, broke into the U-23 team.

The player of Nigerian descent jumped into the first team last season. Combining performances with the second team, he played 2 games in the Europa League, a match in the FA Cup and Premier League.

When Mikel Arteta replaced Unai Emery as the coach, he started playing in the fullback and became a regular starter for the team. After his excellent display, he quickly became a subject of wide prominence.

Saka may have received some unwanted attention as well. As his popularity grew among football fans across Europe, his name finally reached the shores of North and South America.

North America, in particular, is quite weird to imagine as a fan of football or “soccer” as they like to call it. But it turns out that Canadians are quite fond of it.

Saka quickly found himself in the crosshairs of Candian companies, even if he didn’t know it himself. One particular company in Canada had a promotion specifically designed for the young Nigerian.

An online gambling company in Canada, PlayAmo had recently started a promotion where they featured all of the young rising under-20 stars in European football and wanted this promotion to air in cities like Vancouver and Toronto.

Naturally, the taboo of the gambling industry was a serious issue, and not having consent from Saka himself made such a promotion impossible.

But it’s still good to know that there is at least somebody out there who’s keeping a commercial eye on the newcomers to professional football.

What is he good at?

Bukayo is a universal player. During the season, he acted as a defender, midfielder, and even on the wing. Moreover, initially the left striker, he took part in most of the games in defense. Partly due to the poor form of Kolasinac and Tierney. Saka perfectly replaced them.

For the attacking player, Saka does a good job of defending. On average, he makes 0.5 blocks and many interceptions. Not the most outstanding figures, but for a beginner, the stats are not bad.

In the defense, Saka also embodies his attacking skills: confident dribbling, an excellent pass, and competitive speed. Plenty of assists are one of the main achievements of the Englishman.

During the game, he performs an average of 30 assists with an acceptable accuracy of 81.2%. The Englishman knows how to aggravate - he has 1.1 key passes on average per game in all tournaments.

Moreover, in the Europa League, he was tearing this indicator, giving 2.3 key assists per match, but in the Premier League, these figures are 3.3 times weaker!

Why is it so? It's simple: in the Europa League Saka almost all matches played as the left winger, and in the Premier League, the overwhelming majority of minutes Bukayo Saka acted in defence.

But at the same time, the assists on the left side of the youngster are decent. As many as 4 - almost half. And what he does not succeed at all is the crosses in the penalty area and long passes. For the game, Saka scrapes only 0.6 accurate long passes.

Bukayo looks extremely calm at the end of the attacks. Because of this he surprised and impressed many English viewers.

During the season, the Englishman scored 3 goals - two in the Europa League and one in the FA Cup.

We can evaluate the contribution of Bukayo from the position of a winger (Europa League) and a defender (Premier League).

In the European League, Saka inflicted almost 2 hits per match, beat opponents 2.2 times and collected 1.5 fouls on himself.

It was indeed a good activity on the flank. In the Premier League, of course, everything is calmer: 0.53 hits, 1.4 strokes and 0.9 fouls per game.

“He is really good. I think he is probably the best young Premier League player. He needs to improve some aspects, but you can see his level.

“Moreover, he is modest, which is very good for him. Saka is really modest, he wants to work and accepts criticism because he wants to become better, ”experienced Alexander Lacazette praised the young man in dialogue with Goal.

Bukayo perfectly fit into the Arsenal and received well-deserved high marks. UEFA introduced the Englishman in the top 50 most promising players of 2020, and the BBC added him to the symbolic team of young players.

There he is in the midfield. It is obvious that continuing to progress, Saka will be able to become one of the most prominent football players of future years.

If we take his performance against Leicester he was one of the best players on the pitch, but unfortunately for him the team failed to win the game.

What should we expect next?

Arsenal extended the contract with the English striker Bukayo Saka recently. It was noted that 18-year-old Saka signed a long-term agreement with Arsenal.

Before announcing the deal, It was previously reported that West Bromwich Albion central defender Nathan Ferguson could become a footballer at one of the London Premier League clubs in London.

Arsenal and Tottenham are interested in signing a young player who can play on both sides of the defence.

For the sake of finding finance, the Gunners are ready to sell Aubameyang. The Englishman was asked to stay not only fans but also partners. Leno and Lacazette talked with the guy about this.

The next season will be pivotal for both Saka and Arsenal. Mikel Arteta who came into the club after the start of the season still has not found his best starting 11 yet.

It goes without question, that he has confidence in Saka and wants to have him in the team as long as possible.

The player is still very young which leaves us with hope, that he will improve definitely and is capable of leading Arsenal to numerous titles.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal.com