Speaking on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, Anne-Marie Batson claimed that she is ‘worried’ about Arsenal’s versatile midfielder, Bukayo Saka.
Making his Arsenal debut as a 17-year-old back in 2018, Saka has gone on to make 53 appearances for the north London side, chipping in with five goals and providing 13 assists along the way.
So far this season, the £36 million-rated 19-year-old has featured in five Premier League fixtures, over which he has scored one goal and averaged a WhoScored match rating of 6.73 – ranking him as the club’s joint fifth-best performer in the league.
However, in the club’s most recent fixture, a 3-0 home defeat to Aston Villa, Saka’s WhoScored match rating of 5.34 was the lowest of any player to have featured in the match.
The England international was one subject of conversation on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, in which Batson stated her belief that she was worried Saka could go the same way as former Arsenal player Jack Wilshere.
She said: “Saka needs a rest. I’m worried about him. I’m worried about Saka. He’s an immense talent, [he’s] brilliant, for me. Like Dominic [Fifield] was talking about [Eberechi] Eze, [Saka is] going to be fantastic for the game. I just don’t want him to head down the road that Jack Wilshere did. So, I think Saka needs a little bit of a break.”
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TIF Thoughts on Anne-Marie Batson’s comments regarding Bukayo Saka…
From Batson’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is worried that Saka, should he not be afforded a rest by Mikel Arteta, could head down a similar route to that of Jack Wilshere, who also played a great number of games at a young age in his Arsenal career, before picking up numerous injuries, which, ultimately, have left him without a club at the age of just 28.
However, in our opinion, considering Saka is yet to suffer a major injury in his time at Arsenal, Batson’s worries regarding a link between the 19-year-old’s career path to that of Wilshere do seem to be a little premature.
Furthermore, Arteta has already rested Saka twice in the Premier League so far this season, as well as once in the Europa League, so, once again, the concern of Batson regarding a rest for the midfielder does seem to be a little much at present.