That penalty miss against West Ham was the end of the season. For him and all of us.

Nelson and Trossard should have had more minutes in that time. Both have shown enough to be given run-outs when Saka has been off form. Arteta does need to learn to rotate as I don't see how we can manage the burden or CL football without doing so.

    Don Pacifico a lot of us were saying all season that Saka was being over played. He played some stupid Europa and cup games that he never should have. Thats the sort of player management Arteta needs to get right in future. TBF he probably never thought we'd last so long in the league but we are at that level now so its time to act like it. We need to do what Pep does and manage players so that they are still fresh and fully fit once you reach the last 2 months of the season. Especially if we want to compete on 4 fronts next season.

        Qwiss for sure - I remember speculating that our over-reliance on our core group would bite us in the ass come the latter stages of the season.

        Difficult to feel like that hasn't been the case; contributing factor to our recent slump.

          The big question is whether outcomes would have been different or not. On the individual player's level, maybe, but results? Hard to say.

          7 days later

          Amazing news, having our two wide boys signed up for the long term is huge.

          Glad we've got this done before the last game.

          All these were never in doubt.

          The big one is Saliba

          Big Willie 4 years which is disappointing as would have liked 5. But am guessing his agents made sure we need to be talking again in a couple years time.

              JazzG 4 years which is disappointing as would have liked 5. But am guessing his agents made sure we need to be talking again in a couple years time.

              So we'll have to be going through the same thing again in 2 years time? Yeah, good to get him resigned, but pretty disappointing its not longer.

                  fantastic news. get wilo done and we're cooking

                  Now that’s worth celebrating. Hoping we also sign someone to support and challenge him next season.

                  Big Willie His advisors earning their commission here. As fans you want him tied down as long as possible but if you’re advising him then you try to make it as short as possible.

                  Saka is only going to get better at considering he is only 21 if as a club we don’t move forward or match his ambition he’ll want to be in a position where he can reassess his options.

                    Great news. Bit of a shame it's not longer and we'll have to do this again in 2 years but it makes sense for him and his agent, Imagine we'll need to win something major to keep him beyond this contract. Probably only so long he can keep seeing all his mates in the national team showing off all their medals (and no doubt being in his ear about joining) until he'll want to be part of it too.

                      Four years is acceptable. He's here for the next phase of a squad that must now urgently challenge for major honours. So we achieve those objectives, and Saka will stay on longer, later.

                        Burnwinter I'm preparing myself emotionally to lose him after this contract or the next. He's got so many possibilities, find it hard to think he'd pass them all up.

                            Nothing wrong with him leaving in 6-7 years anyway. Like Sterling I’d expect him to peak early and decline early given how much football he’s played from a young age.

                            Main thing is having him here during his prime and hopefully the club winning a few things during that time and not wasting it.