After another extremely strong campaign from Bukayo Saka on the pitch, I’m starting to get the impression his efforts are actually becoming underrated by supporters at large.
For most Arsenal fans, Saka’s influence in 2020/21 was a major positive. He made 46 appearances, scored seven goals and provided seven assists, as well as winning a number of penalties. What’s more, he did all that without any consistency in his starting position, featuring all over the pitch.
Yet his inclusion in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the European Championships brought out a surprising number of naysayers from rival fanbases.
Some were clearly just looking for attention, but in what I can only assume is a mix of recency bias and not actually watching Arsenal play, it appears many genuinely believe Saka hasn’t earned his spot. To me, this is just bizarre.
There’s certainly no hint from players and pundits that Saka hasn’t been hugely impressive all season. As well as winning the London Football Awards’ Young Player of the Year award in April, Saka has now been nominated for both the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season award and the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Saka is one of just four players to make both shortlists, and all three of the others (Declan Rice, Mason Mount, and Phil Foden) join him in Southgate’s England squad. Quite rightly, no one is questioning the credentials of the other three.
The 19-year-old also won three consecutive Player of the Month awards with Arsenal this season – in December, January, and February – as well as being nominated for the main Premier League Player of the Month award in January.
Plus, when he was called upon by England, Saka won the Player of the Match award against Ireland in November and won praise from Southgate for his performance against Belgium a few days later.
So what’s the argument against his Euros call-up?
Primarily, it seems to be that his form dropped off towards the end of the season, and that it wasn’t that hard to star in a poor Arsenal team in the first place.
There’s at least some basis to both of those claims. After an excellent run of league goals and assists in December and January, Saka only provided one further league assist from February onwards.
It also admittedly wasn’t hard to win Arsenal’s Player of the Month award in February, a month including defeats to Wolves, Aston Villa, and Manchester City, and just barely scraping past Benfica. Although it was harder to stand out in December and January, a period in which Arsenal were actually turning things around. A turnaround largely inspired by Saka, by the way.
I’d counter that Saka’s league goal and assist drought came at a time when the focus was on the Europa League, and there’s no denying he was one of Arsenal’s key men in the knockout stage run.
Saka practically dragged Arsenal through that aforementioned Benfica clash, scoring an away goal and then providing two excellent assists in the ‘home’ leg in Greece. Then he was on fire again when Arsenal needed inspiration against Slavia Prague, scoring and winning a penalty in a second-leg first half that demolished their opponents’ chances.
Even in the poor semi-final exit to Villarreal, Saka won the penalty for Arsenal’s only goal of the tie. Those performances were also some of Saka’s first after the injury that forced him to miss weeks of football from the end of March to mid-April.
When Arsenal needed a lift following the Europa League elimination, Saka moved to left-back and was electric in the win over West Brom. He ended the season well making a couple more starts in a couple more positions in wins over Chelsea and Crystal Palace.
What’s more, Saka’s game is clearly about more than just the final ball. There are many occasions you could point to when his ability to escape pressure or find a clever pass led to a goal further down the line.
Looking at xGChain (the total xG of every possession a player is involved in, regardless of whether they have the final shot or key pass), Saka had the third-highest per-90 total at Arsenal in the league in 2020/21. Only Gabriel Martinelli and Alexandre Lacazette scored higher, and their sample sizes were significantly smaller.
Exactly half of that xGChain total came from Saka’s shots and key passes, so the stats suggest he’s equally effective at starting attacking moves as finishing them. You just won’t see that reflected in the goals and assists charts.
That’s not to mention how hard it is to score and assist consistently when you could be playing right-wing, left-central-midfield, or right-wing back on any given day.
To sum up, Saka is a talented and versatile player, up for pretty much every young player award out there, often carrying an underperforming Arsenal team that cost hundreds of millions to assemble.
The Arsenal academy graduate is humble and well-liked among the England squad, he’s taken his chances with the national team in the past, and he has 30 goals and assists in his last two seasons as a teenager.
Saka can have an immediate impact if called upon this summer, but he’s also undoubtedly one for their long-term future, so his inclusion on this occasion could serve England very well for further tournaments down the road. It’s a totally logical and deserved call-up.