Bukayo Saka contract extension proves Arsenal are long gone from the Arsene Wenger era | OneFootball

The established Premier League food chain means that big clubs buy from the smaller ones but the Arsenal of the late-stage Arsene Wenger era found themselves in an odd position.

By club size and trophies, they were undoubtedly one of the biggest in the league, yet they had suffered an alarmingly high number of high-profile player departures.

Cesc Fabregas left, even if it was understandably to his hometown club. Robin van Persie took a look around, thought ‘I will never win the title here’ and left for Manchester United. Alexis Sanchez had a similar mindset, even if the result was not the same.

Arsenal of the 2010s, for whatever reason, could not hold onto their best players and Wenger found himself in charge of a club that was stagnating.

At the same time as all of these star players departing, a future star boy was learning his trade in the academy.

Bukayo Saka is everything Arsenal fans could want in a player. One of their own, one of the most talented players in the league and by all accounts, a genuinely nice human.

Saka is Arsenal’s ‘franchise’ player, a term usually reserved for quarterbacks in the NFL, but symbolising a star who carries the fortune of the club on his shoulders. Reports suggest that new players looking to join the club will have a salary at best equal with the 24-year-old, such was Arsenal’s preference to prove he is their number one.

That faith is why he has signed a new five-year contract, taking him through the peak of his career, to stay at Arsenal. That staying part has not happened much in the 20-year drought of league titles.

Saka is not alone in this regard. William Saliba and Gabriel both signed new deals last summer. Youth prospects Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly are tied down to long contracts. Any player who can be considered a first-team regular at the club has a deal until at least 2028. Arsenal’s spine is very much secure for years to come.

Renewing Saka was a priority given his contract ended next year but the club have never been in as strong negotiating position. The Gunners are first in the Premier League, still in both domestic cups and topped the Champions League league stage. Everything is looking pretty rosy right now for a club that has so often had to settle for second best.

Arsenal were also aided by Saka’s love of his boyhood club but that is not something to be overexploited. Saka and his representatives will have known that any reasonable contract demand would have been accepted by a club who clearly see him as their future. If Arsenal ever looked like not budging, a few well-placed stories of interest from Real Madrid or Manchester City would have got them round the negotiating table.

As for the player, his deal reportedly puts him on £300k a week – a £100k pay rise – but a salary that high puts you amongst the best of the best and with that comes an extra level of scrutiny.

With his new deal, Saka is the joint-fifth-highest-earning player in the league. Every player above him is a multi-time league winner. One of those is Mohamed Salah, a player being blasted for having a poor season and yet his 10 G/A is three more than Saka’s.

Arsenal fans will defend Saka’s relative lack of goals by pointing at other metrics but goals and assists are the metrics by which the very top attacking players are judged. In that regard, Saka has stalled in recent years.

Injuries are one possible explanation, as is teams putting more defenders on him, but Saka has scored just seven goals in 33 appearances for Arsenal. He averages 0.61 G/A per game, the same as youngster Estevao and former Aston Villa substitute Donyell Malen.

That lack of goalscoring output is what leads the likes of Jamie Carragher to suggest Arsenal have no ‘superstar’. It’s why Saka’s name did not appear in the top 30 of last year’s Ballon d’Or voting.

Judging Saka through the prism of scoring goals alone is perhaps a little unfair but that is the expectation of the best of the best. Think back over the best attackers in history – do the names that come to mind lack goals in the same way Saka does?

This new contract is a reward for Saka’s successful graduation from youth prospect to guaranteed first teamer; both he and Arsenal have to now show they are more than just potential.

For Arsenal, that is easy – win big trophies. For Saka, that is maybe not as straightforward but having more impact in the opposition’s box is an easily quantifiable metric.

Arsenal have bet their future on Saka and made him one of the best-paid players in the league – now his goals and assists must show that he is.