Mikel Arteta is ready to unleash “massive weapon” Bukayo Saka on the Premier League again, with the Arsenal winger poised to make his long-awaited comeback against Fulham on Tuesday.
Saka has not played since suffering a hamstring tear against Crystal Palace in December but is now “ready to go” after completing his recovery from surgery.
The 23-year-old could even start against Fulham as Arsenal try to keep alive their slim hopes of catching league leaders Liverpool. Victory at the Emirates Stadium would reduce the gap between the two sides to nine points.
Arteta said Arsenal have had to “hold Saka back” in recent weeks as the winger has pushed to make his return to competitive action.
“Bukayo is ready to go,” said Arteta. “The careful thing is already done. Now it’s about putting him on the grass, in the right moments. But he is pushing because he really wants it. We have respected the time frame, we have done everything and we have had to hold him back even.
“It’s another massive weapon that we have with him. We know the impact that he has had on the team and how important his role and his contribution is to our success. So it is great to have him back, obviously.
“It’s the energy he transmits, that he has missed the thing he loves the most in his life, which is to be around the team, to play, to train and to compete at the highest level. And the fact he is able to come in at the most important part of the season obviously is a massive boost for him, and to the team as well.”
Arteta added that Saka is “clever enough” to hit the ground running and immediately rediscover his usual form, especially with the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid looming next week.
The Arsenal manager has told the winger not even to contemplate the possibility of rustiness after so long without a competitive game.
“Yeah, get that out of your head,” Arteta said. “You [Saka] haven’t played for three months but you’ve played for the last 48 months, so three in 48 is a very small percentage.
“I haven’t done maybe the housekeeping duties for a week but I’ve done it for 10 years so I know what to do, I know how to sustain it and I’m clever enough to maintain that. The habit is certainly there, so don’t think about that.”
Forward’s injury has strengthened hand in contract negotiations
Bukayo Saka has not played competitive football since before Christmas but he has still created the second most “big chances” of all Premier League players this season. Only Mohamed Salah, with 21 big chances created, has created more than Saka’s 19.
That statistic alone says plenty about Saka’s attacking quality and his supreme importance to Arsenal’s hopes of success. Without him, they have simply not been the same team. At the time of his injury, Arsenal were three points off the top of the Premier League. Now, after 12 league games without him, the gap to Liverpool is 12 points.
Of course, Arsenal already knew that Saka was a crucial cog in Mikel Arteta’s machine. But in some ways it has taken his injury for the world to see just how crucial the 23-year-old has become. Saka’s standing has effectively been boosted by his absence.
All of which will be a source of delight for his representatives ahead of discussions over a new contract for the England winger. Saka’s current deal expires in the summer of 2027, which means he is rapidly approaching the final two years of his existing terms. This is the point at which a club would usually want to either sell or extend a player, and Arsenal obviously have no interest in selling.
Andrea Berta, the new sporting director, will be tasked with getting a deal over the line. It is one of the Italian’s most pressing priorities, now that he has officially started in north London, and the new terms for Saka could have a knock-on effect for the rest of the squad – and indeed Arsenal’s summer transfer business as a whole.
Evidently, a new contract for Saka will not be cheap. He is already among the highest earners in the Arsenal squad, and he is arguably even more important now than he was in the summer of 2023, when he signed his current deal.
This season, Saka has contributed a combined 23 goals and assists in 24 appearances in all competitions. He has not played for more than three months but, still, there is not another player in the Arsenal squad who even comes close to matching his output in the final third. His closest competitor is Kai Havertz, who has 20 goal involvements – but those came in 34 appearances.
With Havertz and Gabriel Jesus both injured, the returning Saka faces a different task in the remaining matches of this season. There is no recognised centre-forward for him to work with and the attack flows differently with Mikel Merino playing as a striker.
But he has waited months to demonstrate his quality, and these next few weeks represent his opportunity to underline his status as Arsenal’s most important and valuable player.
