Arsenal have just handed Bukayo Saka a huge new contract – the problem is, he’s no longer playing like the star player his salary package is.
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The Englishman is not having his best season, and it was noticeable how much better Arsenal looked when they replaced Noni Madueke in the Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen last night.
While goals and assists aren’t everything, they are the most valuable money for an attacking player at a top club, and those numbers seem to be going in the wrong direction for Saka.
Bukayo Saka’s G/A numbers continue to drop
Take a look below as a very clear pattern emerged showing that Saka peaked in output two years ago, with injuries seemingly set to wreak havoc ever since…
So far in 2025/26, Saka has nine goals and five assists in 39 games in all competitions – a return that is clearly average, and perhaps more concerning as the season progresses, with the 24-year-old just two goals and two assists in 2026 so far.
Saka’s presence means Madueke has had fewer minutes, but he has managed seven goals and one assist in 29 games, only 19 of which have been in the XI.
Bukayo Saka is not forgiving of a huge new Arsenal contract
According to the Guardian, Saka is now under contract until 2031, and Arsenal will pay him £15m a year until then, which is around £75m.
If Arsenal had agreed to that kind of deal a year or two ago, nobody would have batted an eyelid, but at the moment it looks like the club have made a huge mistake.
Saka’s fitness has been spot on, and it’s starting to look like it’s having an impact with his quality displays.
For someone who has played so much football at such a young age, it wouldn’t be surprising if we see Saka suffer in the same way as other explosive forwards.
Names like Michael Owen and Marcus Rashford come to mind as players who arrived much earlier than the usual age range of 25-28 years due to being key first-team brackets as youngsters.
Bukayo Saka needs to rest, but when will it come?
It looks like Saka just needs a break now after such a tough schedule over the past few years, with the defender playing at a high level every three days.
Unfortunately, Mikel Arteta needs his star to be ready to fight for the Premier League title, the Carabao Cup final, and continue his run in the FA Cup and Champions League.
Although Madueke presents himself as a good alternative, it seems unlikely that Arsenal will bench their top scorer anytime soon, with every game at this stage of the season looking very important.
And after that, there’s the World Cup with England to think about, when Saka will almost certainly be on the plane to North America, and possibly in Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI for the tournament.
Arsenal know they have top-class talent on their hands, hence the big payday and regular minutes, but as time goes on it increasingly looks like those two things can’t sit comfortably together.
