Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, is set for a dispute with the England Football Association (FA), after ruling out winger Bukayo Saka from national duty due to injury. Despite claiming Saka was “in contention” for Sunday’s win over Manchester City, Arteta left the 22-year-old at home and later said he would be unavailable to join the England squad.
“No, he will not make it,” Arteta stated. “He has not trained for a single session. He is not available to play football at the moment.” However, reports monitored by THEWILL in England claim the FA still expect Saka to report on Monday, for their own medical checks.
England face Australia in a friendly on Friday, then Italy in a Euro qualifier next Tuesday. Ahead of the games, England boss, Gareth Southgate, said he did not want to risk Saka’s fitness.
“I can only go via what Mikel has said about the last few games,” Southgate explained. “We look after the players as well as any country. There’s always a focus on our players because they play their club football, in the main, in England and then we play here as well.”
Southgate added he has a responsibility to qualify England, but has never risked a player’s physical well-being. The Arsenal boss now seems set for talks with the FA over Saka’s availability.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
