Bukayo Saka voted Player of the Season
As confirmed through the official channels of the club, Bukayo Saka has been voted by the supporters as the Arsenal Player of the Season, comfortably beating Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale to the award.
The 20-year-old winger played a total of 43 games for the Gunners in 2021/22, scoring 12 goals and producing seven assists. Of those 43 appearances, 36 were Premier League starts – an impressive feat for such a young player. There can be no sensible doubt that Saka is the most exciting young player at any club in the English top flight right now.
Having won this award in 2020/21 as well, he has become the fourth player in Arsenal history to win it twice in a row, and the last since Thierry Henry did it in 2004, at the end of the ‘Invincibles’ campaign.
Saka’s current contract with Arsenal is a four-year deal signed in 2020, and with half of its duration gone already, a number of top clubs both in England and on the continent are said to be watching his performances, as well as developments regarding his future, closely. At this point in time, the youngster appears wary of recommitting under fresh terms, and the Gunners obviously need to bring their results up to scratch if they wish to avoid him looking elsewhere when the expiration date comes closer. A player of his quality surely deserves Champions League football, and Arsenal simply must become the club to give its players that again, and very soon.
Arteta’s men came very close to doing that this time around, but a pair of late shockers swung the top-four race and knocked them down to give Tottenham Hotspur a crucial advantage. Led by the ruthless Antonio Conte, Spurs grabbed the chance to beat Arsenal to it with both hands, and it seems we’re stuck, repeating the same mantra every year; Arsenal MUST return to the Champions League as soon as possible.
