Arsenal of England youngster, Bukayo Saka has received another angle of relevance in The Gunners’ squad, as the London-based club’s top brass have labeled getting a contract extension for the Nigerian-born lad as an urgent matter of priority for them ahead of this summer, megasportsarena.com reports.
While the London-based club’s efforts to hook Saka to a new contract have stalled so far, with several months already gone by without any fulfillment of coach of the side, Mikel Arteta is staying upbeat over their chances of keeping the teenager, who has a year left on his current deal and has already been linked with transfer offers from Liverpool and Manchester United.
However, as pressure mounts from their English Premier League rivals, Arteta has disclosed that sorting out a new contract for Saka is a priority for Arsenal, who he says the club are rating on the same level with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose future they also want to resolve this month.
This comes on the understanding that Saka has enjoyed a breakthrough season with the Emirates Stadium outfit, for which he has made 29 appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals and supplying 10 assists, thereby according him additional respect in the squad.
Incidentally, though Saka is basically a winger, he impressed as a makeshift left-back in several matches heading into the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, but one of the issues affecting his contract extension is that he is keen on reverting to his original role on the left side of attack.
However, with the team’s regular left-back, Kieran Tierney now fit again, and new captain of the side, Aubameyang now generally deployed down the left flank, Saka could find opportunities in the starting line-up more limited when the EPL season resumes on Wednesday, which has left the lad’s camp wondering about his long-term options with the club.
Nonetheless, Arteta stressed that the hierarchy at Arsenal are working hard to tie Saka to a long-term contract before the 18-year-old’s current deal due expires in 2021, as they aim to ward off interest from Liverpool and United as well as Borussia Dortmund of Germany, who have all been linked with the lad, and the coach acknowledged that the teenager’s situation is one of the more urgent ones facing the North London outfit.
Arteta declared: “We are trying, as a club, to finalise the deals that are more urgent and are a priority for us. They are both really important, not just for now but for the future of the club as well and if the club has something to announce, they will do it in the right moment.”
