Arsenal can’t afford to rest Bukayo Saka without further investment

Arsenal are desperately scrambling to sign a striker and a midfielder this transfer window. Quite rightly so, as they are the priorities for this team in mid-season.

But what about Bukayo Saka?

It’s a rarity for academy graduates to make it in the teams they’ve grown up at. There have been countless players to come through the ranks at Arsenal and play professional football, but to make it at Arsenal? Few and far between.

So to have two in the same team with Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka is a blessing. We are, truly, blessed. They also just to happen to be the two best players at the club. It’s remarkable to consider.

Arsenal can’t afford to keep fielding Bukayo Saka and in the summer transfer window he will need protecting with a new signing

In the case of both, too much weight has been placed on their shoulders already. Arsenal were reliant on them last season and it isn’t much different this term. There has been a change, though, with Martin Odegaard’s permanent acquisition and Gabriel Martinelli’s promotion to the starting lineup easing the burden on Smith Rowe.

There is no such luxury for Saka.

Nicolas Pepe can’t hold a candle to Saka. Dashes of talent are intermittent at best. Even when he’s not away on AFCON duty the trust in him to carry out the immense tactical duties that Saka has on the right side of this asymmetrical shape is non-existent.

What is the solution, then? There really isn’t one. And with three gigantic matches coming up for Arsenal that could book them a place at Wembley as well as cement their place in the Premier League top four hunt against Tottenham, three more 90 minute outings feel inevitable for Saka. He’s just gone the full length in the FA Cup, too.

He is, of course, young. It’s as if the rotational kicks he gets every week make him stronger. But to assume it can go on without consequences would be naive. One need only look at other young players in English football who’ve suffered as a result of overplaying – Rashford is a prime example – and see how they’ve fared.

The argument is, rightly, that Saka is more talented, but any player with this volume of minutes at such a young age runs the risk of physical issues in their mid/early 20’s onwards.

Saka needs protecting, and that can only come in the summer window.

Mikel Arteta doesn’t have anyone he trusts who can fill on that side, and ideally it’s someone who can also cover the left flank if needs be, giving Arsenal two players for each of the three positions behind the striker. Pepe isn’t that guy, and while Omari Hutchinson is making inroads in the youth setup, he’s still a few years off.

Until a tactically astute and pacey wide player can be signed in the summer, it looks like the weight of Arsenal’s right flank will continue to rest on Saka. He does a job nobody else comes close to fulfilling.

He’s only 20 years old and if Arteta had the option he wouldn’t be playing as much as he is. Unfortunately for Saka, he’s too darn brilliant not to.