Mikel Arteta has demanded Arsenal star Bukayo Saka becomes a 'ruthless winner' with the manager confident that the England international will sign a new contract.
Saka enjoyed an impressive season last term scoring 12 goals and providing a further seven assists in all competitions, but was unable to lead the Gunners to a top-four finish. The 20-year-old joined the north London outfit aged seven and made his debut back in 2018, going from strength to strength, season after season.
Arteta is fully aware of the talent that Saka possesses and the Spaniard is keen to tie the England international down to a new long-term contract with Manchester City and Liverpool both monitoring the winger's situation at the Emirates Stadium. The Arsenal manager is 'confident' an agreement can be reached to renew Saka's deal, but he wants the 20-year-old to reach 'a new level' by demanding three things from him.
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Speaking to football.london, Mikel Arteta laid out the key things he wants to see Saka do in the next three to five years with Arsenal. The Gunners' boss said: "He has to be a ruthless winner. That’s it. Simple."
"That’s his mentality, that’s what he needs to do. He needs to win football matches on his own, he needs to be living this profession: tomorrow I’m going to kill the opponent. And that’s what I want from him."
Arteta made it clear he knows the level Saka is capable of now, but is keen for the 20-year-old to become one of the Premier League greats. That will only be achieved if he begins to embrace the pressure of being the main man at the Emirates Stadium, similar to how Thierry Henry continued to perform time and time again, taking games by the scruff of the neck and being the deciding factor for the Gunners.
"He has this ability now he’s going through a place in his career and he needs to go to the next level right now. And I think he has the right environment to do it – he has the right people around him to do it and he’s very willing to do it. So that’s what we have to demand."
There is no hiding the fact City and Liverpool are closely following Saka's progress and the ongoing situation regarding his contract, with the England international's current deal at the Emirates Stadium set to expire in 2024. Arteta remains relaxed and confident that all parties involved in negotiations can come to an agreement ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar later this year.
"I am very confident that we as a club and Bukayo, his family, his agent, everybody, we are very much aligned in what we want to achieve, and now it is about putting it on a piece of paper," Arteta said at his pre-Bournemouth press conference on Friday.
"I would like that to get done, because I don’t want the player or anybody distracted while we are in the middle of the season. But those things take time and they have to go through the right process, and I think the process has been really good."
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