https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...-arsenal-must-not-let-him-leave/#78e73ba631b1
[article]How often do you see a professional soccer player switching positions from game to game? A few might be able to play as either a central or wide attacker; some may be able to play on the left and right of a central defensive partnership; a few may even be adept as a full-back on both flanks. But
how many do you see playing in roles that require a completely distinct skillsets, different ways of understanding the game, unique sets of movements and interactions with team-mates?
If the answer is ‘not many’, that in turn begs the question: why?
The answer, most likely, is because doing so is bloody difficult.
Playing in the Premier League is a realistic proposition for very few, even among the best soccer players. And to be successful at the very top, it is increasingly the case that you must completely and utterly dominate a very specific subset of skills that make you exceptionally good at performing one or at most two of the roles in any given manager’s tactical system.
That, apparently, is unless you name is Bukayo Saka. In which case, the usual rules do not apply.
In Arsenal’s last three Premier League games, Saka has played on the left of a back four, the right of a front three and, on Saturday against Brighton, on the left of a midfield three. The unique sequence is testament to the trust that he commands from his manager, Mikel Arteta. And that he has adapted so seamlessly to the changing demands attests to his intelligence, confidence and quality.
At left back, where he played for most of the season owing to injuries to Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac,
he did so well that some were speculating about him being called up to the England senior team in the role. On the right wing against Manchester City he was a little less involved, which is to be expected against such high-quality opposition. Still,
he did the job that was asked of him, making incisive diagonal runs behind the City defense. On Saturday,
as Arsenal took on Brighton, he was perhaps the Gunners’ most influential player, even if Arteta’s men fell to another disappointing result after two soft second-half goals for the Seagulls.
Nominally, he was replacing the injured Granit Xhaka in the central area, but his movements on the pitch were not quite the same as those Arteta requests from the more senior Swiss international.
Saka played a hybrid role, defending as a left-sided central midfielder would be expected to, but varying his movements in attack. At times he would position himself inside, even playing with his back to goal to receive the ball on the half turn, at others he pulled wide as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made a darting diagonal run to join Alexandre Lacazette up front.
That wider, slightly deeper position is one from which Kevin De Bruyne has often wrought havoc for Manchester City this season, doing so again against Arsenal last Wednesday. And
it was from there that Saka most threatened the Brighton backline. It is difficult to defend, as the full-back is occupied with the wide forward and the central midfielder does not want to be drawn so far out.
After just eight minutes, Saka received the ball in that area, played a one-two with Lacazette and hammered a shot onto the crossbar with his weaker right foot. After half an hour, he moved out again, providing a deflected cross that Alexandre Lacazette managed to head goalwards. And before the first half was done, Saka found time to deliver a delicious ball from the left flank, which again fell to Lacazette, who did not react quickly enough to make anything of it.
In the second period,
Saka was called into defensive action more often, but when given the opportunity to counter, he burst forward and, with 23 minutes to go, supplied the pass that allowed Nicolas Pepe to open the scoring with a beautiful curling effort.
The most incredible thing is that Saka does not turn 19 until September. To have the confidence to perform so well in different roles, with their varied demands, shows a level of maturity well beyond his years.
The worrying thing for Arsenal, though – and this is the case so often that their fans will be sick of reading these words – is that
Saka’s contract only has a year left to run.
That Arsenal’s head of football Raul Sanllehi, who in 2018 said that it would be Arsenal “policy” not to let players’ contracts run into their final year, and technical director Edu Gaspar did not see fit to extend the contract of such a talented player before he made his breakthrough this season is a reflection of the disarray behind the scenes.
This week, much has been said about David Luiz’s precarious situation – he is coming into the last week of his contract, without any resolution about his future. But fans also await news on Pablo Marí, Cedric Soares, Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil, all of whom have contracts or loan deals that run out either this summer or next.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein wrote this week that before the break for coronavirus, Saka and Arsenal were on the verge of agreeing a new deal and that the player’s desire is to remain. But, in more words that will worry the Arsenal faithful, he continued, “Until pen hits paper you never know.”
Given the quality of his performances in a team that is clearly not up to scratch and his apparent centrality to Arteta’s plans to remold the team, Saka is now in a far stronger negotiating position than he would have been 12 months ago. As Arsenal legend Ian Wright told DAZN this week, “He’s right, him and his representatives, to hold out as best they can because he’s the future of the club. They cannot afford to let a player like this leave.”[/article]