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‘His reaction was incredible’: Arteta says he was worried about ‘fantastic’ Arsenal player
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted that he was worried about Bukayo Saka after what happened at the final of Euro 2020 last summer.
The young Gunner was among three England stars to miss a penalty in the shootout. Saka missed the all-important one in the end and was subjected to a ton of vile abuse on social media.
Arteta and every Arsenal fan was worried about the youngster and the impact that penalty miss could have on his career. There was a chance that Saka’s confidence would take an enormous hit, but what happened was the complete opposite.
Saka, labelled as ‘‘ by Ray Parlour,’ bounced backed brilliantly and he has been one of Arsenal’s best players this season.
Mikel Arteta: I was worried about Bukayo Saka
The Arsenal boss was quizzed about Saka in his press conference ahead of the game against Norwich City.
He said, as per : “Well, I was worried with everything that happened in the summer with him.
“But, when I first met him after the holiday period, I realised that he’s going to cope with it well because his reaction was incredible.
“Then the support that he had from everybody in football, I think it was something that gave him a big lift and a lot of reassurance and security and really pushed him forward to say ‘OK, La Masia, this is just part of the journey.’”
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It really was a difficult time for Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford in the summer, but all three of them have recovered very well.
Saka, in particular, has really impressed. He has played 20 times for the Gunners in all competitions and has been directly involved in eight goals. He was outstanding in the game against Leeds United last time out and he’ll be key for Arsenal against Norwich later today as well.
It will be interesting to see if Saka can better his record from last season. The young Englishman was directly involved in 17 goals last term and he’s 10 away at the moment. A lot of the season is still left to be played and it won’t surprise anybody if he goes on to have his best campaign ever.