Bukayo Saka's Journey: From Reliability to World-Class Aspirations

Bukayo Saka knows the numbers. Five straight seasons in double figures, 20 goals in 2023-24, a body of work that screams reliability. For most wide players, that would be enough.

For Saka, it isn’t.

The Arsenal winger had looked ready to plant himself firmly among the game’s global elite not so long ago, but the landscape has shifted around him. Lamine Yamal has exploded onto the scene, Michael Olise has sharpened his end product, Vinicius Junior keeps redefining what a modern wide forward looks like. The bar for “world-class winger” has been dragged even higher.

Saka has been fighting something more basic than reputation: his own body. Across the last two seasons he has missed 40 games for club and country, his momentum repeatedly broken. Even his World Cup campaign in the summer of 2026 was compromised by fitness problems, the stop-start rhythm stripping away some of the fluency that once felt automatic.

“I don't think there's any reason why he shouldn't return to his best form,” Smith said. “Injuries just can rob you of rhythm and confidence. But if he gets a good period clear of injury now and he can have a good run of games, you'd expect him to come back up to the levels that he was at. No reason why he shouldn't.”

Alan Smith, who knows all about the demands of leading the line at Arsenal, sees no permanent damage done. Speaking to GOAL, in association with BestBettingSites.co.uk, the former First Division title winner backed Saka to climb straight back to his old heights once the Premier League restarts.

Arsenal will demand exactly that. Mikel Arteta’s side spread goals across the pitch, but they still lean heavily on Saka’s output from the right. The club have not added a new striker this summer, placing even more weight on the shoulders of Swedish forward Viktor Gyokeres as he prepares for his second season at Emirates Stadium.

Gyokeres struck 21 goals in all competitions last term. It was a solid return, not least for a debut campaign, but Arsenal’s ambitions require more than “solid.”

“It is so important that Saka can add more goals to the side,” Smith stressed. “Certainly, as well as playing well and creating goals, which he's very good at.”

The conversation quickly swung back to the man through the middle.

“Gyokeres, I wondered what was going to happen with him this summer. Something still might happen, but it's his second season and he got into the 20s for goals in the first, all in. So that's no mean feat. Maybe he'll step up.

“I don't think he's going to become a different footballer, a more sophisticated footballer. He is what he is. But maybe his team-mates know a bit more about him now and can service him better. So yeah, keep our eye on that one. But we obviously need a functioning goal scoring centre-forward.”

That last line lingers. Arsenal’s search for a ruthless No.9 has been a running theme of recent windows, and the rumour mill has done little to quieten it this time around.

World Cup winner Julian Alvarez has been heavily linked, the Argentina international now at Atletico Madrid after his spell at Manchester City. For now, though, talk is all it is. No agreement, no unveiling, no new focal point.

Out wide, the picture is just as intriguing. There has been speculation over a move for Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, and even those fleeting, eyebrow-raising links to Real Madrid superstar Vinicius hinted at the type of firepower Arsenal are at least dreaming about.

If Barcola or another high-calibre wide forward does arrive before the transfer window closes on September 1, Saka could find himself sharing the burden – and the spotlight – from the flanks. That might free him, or it might challenge him.

Either way, the equation is simple. If Arsenal are serious about matching the standards being set by the likes of Vinicius, Yamal and the rest, Saka’s next act has to look less like a recovery mission and more like a statement season.