Neil Dewsnip believes Arsenal youngster Bukayo Saka has a new challenge on his hands now

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The Gunners ace has burst onto the scene this season for Unai Emery and the Emirates Stadium side.

Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka has been highly praised by Neil Dewsnip, who used to manage England’s Under-18s, describing him as a quick and thorough learner who handled the positional change to left-back very well last year – but admits he now has a new challenge on his hands (Sky Sports News).

The 18-year-old has burst onto the scene this season following an impressive six appearances for Unai Emery’s side, including a goal and two assists in the Europa League win over Eintracht Frankfurt and an assist against Manchester United in the Premier League (Whoscored).

Saka started 2018-19 with Arsenal’s Under-18s, but by the end of the season he was one of the key players for the Under-23s and made his first team debut at Emirates Stadium, all while he was just 17 years of age – and he was also impressing at national level.

“He caught the eye in the same way he does now,” Dewsnip told Sky Sports News. “He was very quick, powerful and could hurt defences, whether that was as an out-and-out left winger or indeed as a left-back, which is where he played for us at the start of last year.

“He handled that positional change very well. He’s very competent at one-v-one defending, so defensively he didn’t really get found out, and he was very good at learning. He was open-minded to everything myself and my assistant, Mike Marsh, told him. He wasn’t in any way obstructive to anything that any member of staff said.”

However, given how much of an impact Saka has made so far and how the spotlight is now on him, Dewsnip thinks the luxury of opponents not knowing as much about him is no longer there and as such will need to add more strings to his bow.

“At first, young players get that luxury of opponents not really knowing much about them,” said Dewsnip. “Bukayo is quick, he’s strong, he can create, he can score, he can cross. But everybody knows that now. He will have to find other ways of influencing the game as well.”

Described as having “electric pace and a killer final ball”, Saka made 34 appearances across all competitions for the Gunners youngsters last season, scoring 14 and assisting 12 (official Arsenal website).