Arsenal are putting the finishing touches to a new long-term contract for Bukayo Saka that will settle the future of one of Europe’s most highly-rated young players, with the club expected to make an announcement this week.
Securing Saka’s commitment will come as a significant boost to Mikel Arteta who has had to manage growing uncertainty over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s future as well as a miserable return to Premier League action.
Arsenal have won just one of their Premier League matches since this month’s restart, sinking to tenth in the table with Champions League qualification seemingly out of the question.
However, Saka has been one of the precious few positive elements of a decidedly average campaign. A graduate of Arsenal’s Hale End academy, the England under-19 international has become a first-team regular for his club, even thrusting himself into contention for Gareth Southgate’s squad for next summer’s Euros.
Operating across numerous positions, the 18-year-old’s versatility has seen him become a key asset for Arteta, as the young manager continues to experiment with different formations and line-ups.
Saka’s initial forays into the Arsenal first XI were in the advanced wide-forward role that he successfully occupied for Freddie Ljungberg’s under-23s throughout the 2018-19 season.
In December though, an injury crisis prompted interim manager Ljungberg to field Saka as a left-back. Even once Arteta was appointed to replace Unai Emery in late December and Saka was shifted further forward, the teenager continued to be used at full-back on international duty.
“He came on our camp in September and played left-back against Germany away,” Paul Simpson, who has worked with Saka at England under-16 and under-19 level, told The Athletic in March. “He told me he saw himself as a winger but was happy to do it.”
Since the Premier League’s restart, Arsenal have played four games in 11 days and Saka has had a different starting position in each. Having played as a right winger in the 3-0 defeat by Manchester City, he was used in a tactically complex “free 8” role against Brighton and as a wing-back in the much-needed 2-0 win over Southampton.
Against Sheffield United in the FA Cup quarter-finals, meanwhile, Saka lined up on the left of an attacking trio alongside Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe, as Arsenal recorded a second consecutive victory after a run of poor results.
Such flexibility demands tactical intelligence and Saka — an impressive student in his time with Greenford High School in West London where he gained four A*s and three As in his GCSEs — is an equally keen learner on the football pitch. “He’s a brilliant, brilliant kid,” a source at Hale End recently told The Athletic. “Very polite, very courteous, very smart and very studious.”
This week’s official announcement will bring a conclusion to months of negotiations between the club and Saka’s representatives.
“The communication between the club, agents and the family has been going on for months and is very fluent,” Arteta said ahead of Arsenal’s win over Southampton. “The player and family knows how much trust I have in him. I think he is just showing that every week and his consistency level is getting better and better.”
Meanwhile there is still no resolution with captain and top goalscorer Aubameyang, whose contract expires next summer, although Arteta was tight-lipped about the forward’s future on Tuesday afternoon. “I don’t have any updates, sorry,” said the Arsenal manager.
(Photo: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)