The life of a footballer as many know is very physically and mentally strenuous despite many being wrapped up in their own safety bubble from the public on the whole.
Bukayo Saka is one of those who certainly falls under that category of players and is as crucial for Arsenal as he is for his country England currently, but is he overstepping the line?
Recently the 22 year old pulled out of England friendlies versus Brazil and Belgium at Wembley down the road from The Emirates in late March due to an unspecified injury, which even now we are unsure of considering he was playing for the Gunners again after the International break seemingly fine finishing the season in top hurry. This caused much speculation with many querying whether it was because he wanted to focus on the then title chase and Arsenal and that he couldn’t handle both duties, before The Gunners lost the Premiership on the final day of the season to Manchester City last month.
Last season Saka worked tirelessly appearing in nearly every Premier League game (35) and every single one during the previous two years, a demand which the most respected players including the likes of Manchester City’s potent striker Haaland hasn’t met since coming to England for the last two years. In fact in the last two campaigns including England duty Saka has appeared in over 100 games! Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace who played the full 90 minute for England on Sunday in their 1-0 Euros 2024 opening win over Serbia, in comparison has taken three campaigns to play just over 100 games with the Eagles in nearly double the time. Even Liverpool and England’s crucial defender Trent Alexander-Arnold was given more of a rest than Saka last year in the Premiership playing 28 games nearly ten matches less.
The winger has played a crucial role in the Arsenal side since Mikel Artetat took over in late 2020, and has hardly been handed a break since on the domestic and International stage (including the 2020 Euros and 2022 World Cup). Despite this he has still steered on stronger than ever but who’s to say he won’t hit a rough patch after the Euros depending on how far The Three Lions advance? As they say all good things have to come to an end eventually but hopefully not yet in Saka’s case anyway!
