Arsenal: Bukayo Saka primed for Golden Boy 2020

Arsenal have a prime candidate to take home the 2019 Golden Boy in Matteo Guendouzi, but for next year? Let’s talk about candidates.

Arsenal haven’t really been in the running for the Golden Boy award in some time. They’ve had a lot of promising names, but no one that has been able to transition that promise into first team excellence. Especially not for an award so heavily dependent on midfielders and forwards.

This year, Matteo Guendouzi may well be one of the favorites to win the award, as few other youngsters can boast the exposure and ability that he has to his name across this entire calendar year.

Which is amazing. But next year? Next year may be even more exciting. There are two names standing out in a big way—Joe Willock and Bukayo Saka. The only snafu is that Willock will turn 21 in August of 2020, which means that the candidacy may be confined to Bukayo Saka.

And how can you not like those odds? This young man has already burst into the first team. He’s already showcasing more natural ability than Nicolas Pepe across from him. He’s only 18, which means he has a few years of being in the running to look forward to.

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The award has gone to forwards and midfielders fifteen of the sixteen years it’s been in existence, so Saka fits right in the sweet spot.

More importantly, though, he has time yet to solidify his craft before the 2020 award even begins to sniff around for candidates. Yet Saka is already playing every match, he’s likely to retain his starting role even with the team returning to health, and when you look at his ability on the pitch, it’s only a matter of time before he starts chipping in goals. He has such a wicked, composed shot for such a young winger, and his creativity is bursting at the seams.

All Saka has to do is keeping doing exactly what he’s doing. The fine-tuning will come with time and by the time 2020 turns over, he should be well within his element, scoring goals and creating, all the while priming himself as a favorite for the 2020 award.

He’ll have to stave off incursions from Nicolas Pepe, Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Martinelli, but at this point, I wouldn’t bet against Saka. He should be keeping that starting role over Pepe and that alone is testament to just how good he is.