Arsenal Legend Urges Club To Tie Down Bukayo Saka To Long-Term Deal

Arsenal legend Sol Campbell wants the club to secure Saka’s future…

Arsenal legend Sol Campbell has urged the club to secure Bukayo Saka’s long-term future with the gifted winger entering the final 24 months of his contract, talkSPORT reports.

A flimsy report this week claimed Liverpool were eyeing up a move for the 20-year-old and while the validity of those reports is far from concrete, it does bring Saka’s contract situation into sharp focus.

The club spent part of their busy summer recruitment tying down some of our top talents to long-term deals, with Kieran Tierney and Emile Smith Rowe committing their futures to Mikel Arteta’s side.

Gabriel Martinelli also extended his contract the previous year and while he still has several years left to run on that deal, Saka’s contract needs immediate attention.

The Hale End graduate’s deal was set to expire at the end of the 2019/20 season and while he showed a lack of enthusiasm to extend that contract under Unai Emery, the arrival of Arteta expedited that process.

Saka’s new four-year contract was announced shortly after Project Restart and while the last 18 months have gone wonderfully in terms of his development, Campbell believes extending his contract should be at the forefront of the club’s mind.

“When you get young players who just come out and do really, really well, you’ve got to protect them, you’ve got to secure them,” Campbell was quoted as saying.

“They’re the lifeblood for the fans, for their country, England, and especially Arsenal.

“You can’t allow top, top players to run their contracts down and move on because you’re taking too long.

“It’s happened before but that was all about big, big money, it took a long time to secure their contracts – why?

“When a club takes so long to secure the future of a player if you wait too long, they’re going to get offers from other teams around,” the former Invincible added.