goon
But they all started their top flight careers at 16-17.
I'm struggling to grasp what the issue is here. Some players start their first team careers earlier, so they inevitable decline earlier, whilst others start later and decline later. By and large, players who start early or late have the same amount of mileage their bodies can handle before retiring.
Should we play Saka less solely because he's 22 and not 26? Saka has risen to become our most important player, but we should reduce the scope of his role, because he's young? His importance reflects his growth and standing in the team which he has more than seized and deserves.
If he leaves at 27, he'd have given us more years than Patrick Vieira. Again, what's the issue?
There is nothing to say that players who get more minutes in their younger years are somehow more disadvantaged or have shorter peaks or career spans than people who get more minutes at a later age. Rooney and Cesc for example clocked more career appearances than Drogba, Wright, Koscielny...
