Arsenal want to sign blockbuster Saka clone who’s worked with Arteta before

Doubt him at your peril. Bukayo Saka is one of England’s finest talents right now. The Arsenal star proved as much during Euro 2024.

Coming off a campaign where the Gunners’ number 7 fired home 20 goals and registered 14 assists, much was expected and even if Gareth Southgate’s side couldn’t win the tournament, Saka starred.

He left the tournament with just a solitary goal, an important one at that against Switzerland, but he was one of few players in England’s frontline to stand out.

Yes, Harry Kane scored three, but his sluggish displays leading the line played a large part in England’s ultimate demise.

Of course, Saka also scored a vital penalty in the shootout versus the Swiss and proved himself to be a nuisance for many a left-back throughout the tournament.

What’s next? A well-deserved and lengthy break. Saka has barely stopped since this time last year. However, therein lies the problem.

Arsenal eyeing up Saka competition in the transfer market

Over the last year, Saka has played an obscene amount of football for someone still only 22 years of age. In 2023/24 the winger played 47 times and added the maximum number of games (7) at the Euros to his tally.

As a result, signing someone who can just take the pressure and the reliance from him in that position of the pitch will be important.

It perhaps explains links to Bayern Munich’s Leroy Sane. According to reports in Spain, Edu and Co are lining up a ‘blockbuster’ move for the Germany international in a bid to close the gap to Sane’s former club, Manchester City.

It’s stated that Arsenal have ‘set their sights’ on the attacker and are in a ‘favourable’ position to complete a move if he leaves Bavaria behind this summer.

How Sane compares to Saka

There are few players outside of the Arsenal squad that Mikel Arteta knows more than Sane. He worked with him at Manchester City when the Spaniard was Pep Guardiola’s number two and thanks to their time together, the German holds the Gunners boss in high regard.

Speaking about that period in his career, where Sane scored 39 goals and supplied 43 assists in 135 matches for City, the dazzling wide man once said: “It was great. I was pleased to work with him because he actually really helped me at City. We had a lot of individual talks about how I can improve, strengths, my weaknesses, we worked a lot.

“I made huge improvements under him, he gave that to me. I still keep that in my mind and put that in my game – positioning, how to behave in certain positions. I’m thankful.”

Therefore, if a move was on the table, it surely wouldn’t take much persuading for him to head back to England.

But, why would it be a good signing? Well, the “explosive” Sane – as he was described by analyst Raj Chohan, offers very similar qualities to Saka. Playing predominantly from the right, he loves to get at his man, is incredibly creative and boasts the ability to cut inside onto his stronger left foot and get a shot away. It’s a trademark quality for the pair of them.

As we can see in the table above, despite Saka’s supreme level of performance last season, it’s Sane who trumps him, but ever so slightly, in a wide range of areas.

Impressively, it’s the latter who is far more supreme when it comes to take-ons but in other facets, notably key passes, shots and progressive carries, there isn’t much to separate the two electric talents.

The Bayern winger did lag behind in overall goals last season, scoring ten, but he did supply 13 assists, only one behind Saka, meaning their creative outlet does not differ much at all.

Therefore, if Arteta is looking for someone to provide competition for Saka next season, Sane ticks all of the boxes. He’s near enough to a clone of Arsenal’s talisman.

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