Bukayo Saka is ramping up his efforts to be match-ready for Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final showdown with Real Madrid next month. The England winger has been sidelined since undergoing a hamstring operation in late December following an injury at Crystal Palace, missing a total of 18 games.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta shared an optimistic update, saying: “He’s getting closer, he’s stepping up and making very good progress. So, let’s see when we start to throw him in with the team, how he reacts and how fit he can get quickly. He is going to be here next week, hopefully more with the ball at his feet than he has had. That will mean he is passing the ball and shooting and running and everything. He has done quite a lot already on the pitch working on his own. Next we need to arrange it with people around him in a more competitive training session and see how he goes with that.”
While Ben White’s decision to opt out of playing for England post-2022 World Cup has been dubbed “very brave” by Arteta, who believes White didn’t want to disappoint his nation. The centre-back, who left the Qatar squad due to a disagreement with assistant coach Steve Holland, hasn’t rejoined the England setup since.
However, new manager Thomas Tuchel has declared that White, 27, will be considered for international duty once he fully recovers from his knee surgery.
This potential return has sparked controversy, with England icon Stuart Pearce criticising the move, stating: “If they let you down once, they always let you down.”
Arteta has defended White’s decision to leave the England camp, insisting it wasn’t about letting anyone down. Ahead of the clash with Chelsea, Arteta explained: “From what I understand the reasons, it wasn’t about letting somebody down.
“He was just telling somebody ‘I don’t want to let you down and this is the way I feel. I think it’s very difficult for me to give you what you need’. So I think it was completely different.
“I can tell you because I was very involved in the moment that that happened and I know how Ben felt and that was for me very, very clear the reason why he made that decision, how he was feeling about it and how he was struggling.
“It was about just facing the situation and saying: ‘I cannot handle it now and I am not the best person to represent the country the way I feel right now’.
“I think not a lot of people would do it. What he did in my opinion was very brave and not a lot of people would have done it. Whatever the outcome is, what I want is Ben to be happy and that he feels fulfilled.”
This article first appeared on The Mirror.
