Arsenal Head Coach Responds To Speculation Saka Could Be Rewarded With England Call-up

Published: February 29, 2020

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta faced the cameras at a press conference on Saturday ahead of his side's Emirates FA Cup clash with Portsmouth and one of the subjects he touched on was speculation that Bukayo Saka could earn his maiden England senior call-up next month.

As you would expect, the Nigeria Football Federation are believed to be keeping tabs on Saka, albeit discretely, but they face a fight on their hands to persuade the exciting teenager to pledge his international future to the three-time African champions.

The Three Lions are well stocked in the left-back and left wing-back positions, with the likes of Ben Chilwell, Danny Rose and Luke Shaw competing for roster spots ahead of the 2020 European Championship, so Saka will find it difficult breaking into the team with only 31 games under his belt as a professional.

In the event that the Hale End Academy product receives a shock invitation to the England squad next month, which is looking unlikely at the moment, he won't be cap-tied to the Three Lions since the matches against Italy and Denmark are friendlies.

On if he thinks Saka might get an England call-up, Arteta was quoted as saying by arsenal.com : "I don't know. He deserves a lot of credit for the way he is playing, because he is playing with a lot of courage as well.

"You could see the other night that in difficult moments he wanted to make an impact and he wanted to make risky decisions to try to generate goals. And that's been him.

"He's been very consistent with his performance, which at that age normally is not a common thing, but yes, I'm really pleased with him."

When probed further on whether Saka will get an England call-up, the Spanish football tactician answered : "I don't know. That's not up to me to decide".

The 18-year-old Saka earned caps for England's U16, U17 and U18 national teams before debuting for the U19s in November 2018.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal.com