Man City ready to sign best Arsenal player with decisive factor tipped to lead to huge £120m Guardiola raid
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta with Man City boss Pep Guardiola
Bukayo Saka is being tipped to quit Arsenal in the not-so-distant future, with one former Manchester United man explaining why he expects the two-time reigning England player of the year to move to Manchester City.
The 22-year-old Ealing-born star is regarded as one of the Premier League’s best players and has thrived at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta’s tenurship. Now a regular for his country, Saka has won 30 caps for England, scoring 11 goals along the way and being named as the Three Lions’ player of the year for the past two successive seasons.
An injury ultimately prevented him from adding to his tally in the recent international break and Arsenal will hope the rest will have given him sufficient time to recover ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Having injured his hamstring in the Champions League defeat to Lens on earlier this month, Saka, in Arteta’s words has “been working so hard” to return to fitness for the trip to tackle Mauricio Pochettino’s men.
Arsenal’s chances of victory will improve significantly if Saka makes it, though Arteta will also be wary of rushing him back too soon and setting him back during his recovery.
Either way, Saka’s status as, arguably, Arsenal’s best player is very much secure with the winger having scored 43 times and added 39 assists from 189 appearances.
With a goal contribution every 2.3 matches, much of their title hopes will rest on Saka’s shoulders. They finished a narrow second to Manchester City last season and hopes burn bright that this season could see the club end that 20-year wait for Premier League glory.
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Saka tipped to join Man City by 2026
However, former Man Utd winger Kieran Richardson reckons Saka will look to move of if he’s not achieved that goal within the next three seasons.
His recently-signed deal at Arsenal is due to expire in summer 2027 – and Richardson, speaking to Ladbrokes, believes a move is likely by 2026 if he has not managed to lift the Premier League by that date.
And he reckons Manchester City are best placed to sign the star, who is currently rated in the £120m bracket.
“I do feel like if he does leave the club, he’ll go to City,” Richardson said. “It seems like a perfect fit for him. Even though I don’t want him to go, when you think about it, they’ve obviously lost a couple of players in the summer, Riyad Mahrez being one. It seems a perfect fit for Saka, if he wants it.
“Look, I’m hoping that he never has to go there, and that Arsenal win the Premier League and so he’s got no need or reason to go there. But, a player like that, he has to be winning things. You see the likes of Harry Kane at Spurs, he left because he wanted to actually win something, even if it’s in Germany.
“I just feel like if we don’t win the trophy in the next three years, then Saka is definitely going to be looking to move. Why shouldn’t he be? He’s the kind of player that needs to be finishing his career with at least three or four Premier League titles to his name.”
Saka has scored five times and has four assists from just 10 appearances so far this season.
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