Peter Crouch has admitted that he’d worry for Arsenal if they lose Bukayo Saka.
The 18-year-old was a bright light on an otherwise dark day for Arsenal yesterday.
Three days after losing 3-0 at Manchester City, Mikel Arteta’s side suffered a demoralising 2-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion.
But the Gunners’ academy star, who hit the post, was one of Arteta’s better players on the day.
Before the football was shut down back in March, Saka was being linked to the likes of Liverpool.
There was a lot of urgency to sign him up to a new deal, but the young winger is still only contracted to the North London club until next summer.
And former Liverpool hitman Crouch has urged Arsenal to get a deal done as soon as possible to safeguard themselves from a potential Bosman exit.
He told BT Sport on Saturday: “
“I would be concerned [if Saka left]. It’s happened time and time again at Arsenal. I’m not sure who’s in charge of contracts, but it needs to be sorted out.
“They’re giving big, big contracts to players who don’t want to be there and they haven’t sorted out someone with immense potential like Saka. A club of Arsenal’s stature, they should be trying to tie down these top young players. It’s a surprising thing that they haven’t been able to do that.”
Crouch is bang-on here. It’s been a year since Arsenal lost Aaron Ramsey on a free transfer, which hurt fans of the Emirates Stadium club.
It hurt because not only was the Wales international a popular and long-serving player, but they didn’t receive a penny for him.
And if the same happens with Saka a year from now then huge questions must be answered.
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