It was a brilliant teaser, one that had Arsenal fans smiling and shaking their heads, protesting loudly, essentially calling it immoral. Deal or no deal. They win the Premier League title. But they sell Bukayo Saka.
It was posted by the @goalglobal TikTok account at the start of last season and the reactions of those in front of the camera shone a light on just how loved Saka is at Arsenal. The consensus was no deal. It would not be worth it because some things just mean more. “That’s our star boy, that’s like your son,” one of the supporters said. The video was liked by 3 million people.
Rewind to the summer of 2021 when Saka reported for pre-season training after his penalty shootout miss for England in the European Championship final defeat against Italy. He had received horrific online abuse but he was led to a wall of supportive messages from the Arsenal community, hundreds and hundreds of them. One young fan invited Saka for a kickaround in the park and promised to “let him win”.
A few days later, Saka played in a friendly against Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. There is no such thing as a friendly between these rivals and yet the Spurs fans applauded Saka. Had they ever done such a thing for an Arsenal player?
Every Premier League club has its heroes. But it is perfectly possible that none have one quite like Saka at present, not only a symbol of pretty much everything – an academy product, a supporter himself – but a player who has been on board throughout an exciting journey, one that began at a low ebb when Mikel Arteta took over as the manager in December 2019.
Saka, who made his debut under Arteta’s predecessor Unai Emery, has been one of the principal drivers as Arsenal have moved up the league, into the knockout rounds of the Champions League, re‑establishing themselves as one of the top clubs in Europe, even if they have only been able to win one trophy under Arteta – the FA Cup in his first season.
Arteta likes to talk about positive energy, a synergy between the Arsenal crowd and the team, and there is nobody who finesses it like Saka. Witness the basic buzz whenever he receives the ball. A major plank of Arteta’s strategy is to get Saka one v one against his full-back, to get Martin Ødegaard up the inside-right channel to help draw the defensive numbers away from Saka, to allow him to make his moves. If it does not work right away, it does not matter. Just keep giving him the ball. Because he will make it happen.
All of which is to say that when Saka was out for a little over three months with the hamstring rupture sustained at Crystal Palace on 21 December, Arsenal were not the same team. It has been a season of adversity for them on the injury front, numerous key players missing significant chunks, those from the same departments often going down at the same time.
Saka was the greatest missing link. Without him, Arsenal won seven of 12 league matches, their title challenge turning to dust. They lost three out of three in the domestic cups. Before the injury, Saka had 23 goal involvements in 24 appearances – in other words, combined goals and assists. That number is still higher than any other Arsenal player.
And so to reintroduce him now, with Arsenal’s Champions League campaign at its defining point, has been a boost of extraordinary intensity. You could feel it in his comeback game last Tuesday against Fulham in the league, his mere presence among the substitutes at the outset electrifying the occasion. It was a moment of communion when he came on in the 66th minute, a collective release. And as for his goal just seven minutes later …
The hope at Arsenal was they would see off PSV in the Champions League last 16 without Saka, which is what they did. And then, if he could return for the quarter-final against Real Madrid, who knew?
In the first leg against the defending champions at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, there were moments from every Arsenal player. From the David Raya block that thwarted Kylian Mbappé on the half-hour to Mikel Merino’s goal for 3-0 in the 75th minute.
If Myles Lewis-Skelly was sensational, then Declan Rice stole the show with his two free‑kicks, the undoubted man of the match. He had never scored from a direct free-kick in more than 400 games for club and country. “It’s the first time I’ve seen a good free-kick from Dec,” William Saliba said, with a smile.
Then there was Saka, returning a 9/10 performance, pushing the team when it felt as if the tie was drifting. He did not start that well. There was a loose touch which led to a Vinícius Júnior break. There was a scuffed cross. But he kept going. It is what he does.
Saka won an early free-kick off Luka Modric, having shown him the ball before jinking inside and away. It is a trademark of his; the sharp change of direction. He prefers to cut inside but he can also go the other way. Which is what he did in the 38th minute at a point when Madrid were increasingly comfortable.
Saka is not theatrically fast, like Mbappé or Vinícius Júnior. He does not draw gasps with his acceleration. But he remains routinely capable of sliding past his marker. He is quick, of course, but it is about the economy of his movement, the weight of his touches when dribbling.
Isolated one v one against Jude Bellingham, the Madrid player looked to have him covered. Then Saka shook his hips and had the yard of space. When he took another touch, he was two yards clear. All this in the blink of an eye. Frustratingly, no Arsenal player read the dangerous low cross. Moments later, there was a give-and-go with Ødegaard, another cross; again, nobody was there. But Saka had mainlined the energy back into the crowd.
There would be another lull after the interval, not much happening for 12 minutes or so, until Saka sliced inside to win the free-kick from which Rice opened the scoring. Saka was fouled for Rice’s second goal, too.
The countdown to the return leg at the Bernabéu next Wednesday has started, with the messaging from the Arsenal camp extremely clear. “We go there to win,” Saliba said. He made the point four times during a short interview and Rice said the same thing, Arteta as well. With Saka back, the possibilities are tantalising.
