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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tom Canton

Arsenal gave England 5000 reasons to protect Bukayo Saka from injury risk that Southgate ignored

There is absolutely no need for Bukayo Saka to play in these two England Euro Qualifiers. With all due respect to both Malta and North Macedonia, the Three Lions should be winning these games relatively comfortably.

Granted North Macedonia have a scalp over Italy as recently as last year however, the England squad has the depth and firepower available to deal with the challenges of these two fixtures. It surely is a greater necessity to protect the players in the group, such as Saka, no, particularly Saka, from serious injury through burnout.

Should Saka take part in the matches for England, the likelihood is that the newly renewed Arsenal starlet will take his minutes for the season over 5000. His participation in nine different competitions from preseason friendlies to the World Cup and Europa League, in addition to the English domestic league and cup matches, has seen an evident dip in form come the end of the campaign.

READ MORE: Rice and Caicedo sign - Dream Arsenal transfer scenario could become a nightmare with two exits

Granted, the loss of William Saliba to the Arsenal right is certainly a factor in this, but Saka remains one of the most used players by any Premier League club. Should Saka start against Wolves on the final day of the league season, he would become the first Arsenal player since David Seaman to have featured in every single league game for two successive seasons.

England has a roster of attacking talent that nearly every nation on the planet is envious of. Therefore when the opportunity comes to give players a deserved break from the growingly ridiculous physical demands on professional footballers in the modern era there’s little-to-no excuse not to.

Arsenal are regular sufferers of injuries which in the past two seasons have pulled the rug from underneath their league run-ins, ultimately costing them what they were aiming for. Saka may have a clean bill of health regarding injury, but this is no reason to continue to overwork and overplay the winger when it is not necessary.

Jadon Sancho, Mason Mount, Anthony Gordon, Jacob Ramsey, Noni Madueke, Jarrod Bowen, Marcus Edwards the list goes on… There’s plenty of young talent in there too who are yet to receive a first call-up and games against the likes of Malta and North Macedonia seem the perfect time to give them that chance.

Saka is going to be good enough for England when the time comes and he’s needed, period. So, again and for the last time, why take the risk and instead why not give the nation’s arguably brightest star a chance of a full summer for recovery ahead of a new season and a European Championship year?

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