Arsenal star Bukayo Saka made his 200th appearance for the club against Luton Town on Tuesday, highlighting how incredible his journey has been over the past few years.
Saka came through the academy at Hale End, and has quickly blossomed from an outstanding young talent to a world-class attacker, and is one of the best players at the club now.
The 22-year-old made his first-team debut in November 2018 against Vorskla Poltava in the Europa League group stage under Unai Emery, in what was a very different-looking Arsenal side.
With Saka now challenging for the Premier League title under Mikel Arteta, it is safe to say that the club are in a much healthier position now, and looking back at the Arsenal XI for Saka’s debut is quite eye-opening.
The Arsenal XI for Bukayo Saka’s debut
Saka came on as a substitute for former hero Aaron Ramsey in the group stage tie, and the lineup, whilst a rotated one at the time, highlights the poor quality of the Arsenal squad for his debut.
Petr Cech was in goal in what was his final season of professional football, as he found himself overtaken in the pecking order by Bernd Leno.
Carl Jenkinson filled in at right-back, before departing that summer, and Stephan Lichtsteiner partnered Rob Holding in the middle.
Lichtsteiner spent just one season at Arsenal after joining from Juventus, and was thoroughly underwhelming as a veteran by that point.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles, now at Lyon, played at left-back, with Ramsey forming a midfield three with Mohamed Elneny and Matteo Guendouzi in the middle.
Joe Willock played out wide with Emile Smith Rowe, and fellow Hale End graduate Eddie Nketiah started upfront.
The likes of Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny were not part of the squad that day, whilst Emi Martinez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were both on the bench with Saka.
Arsenal’s much-improved starting XI
The starting XI’s for Saka’s first and 200th games could not have been more different in terms of quality. The entire back five arrived at the club after 2020, with Gabriel Magalhaes the first to join.
Record signing Declan Rice was in midfield instead of Guendouzi, and Kai Havertz was paired with Martin Odegaard in an attacking role.
Saka played alongside Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli against Luton, and this attack has begun to click in recent games.
Arteta has revolutionised the squad in his time at the club, but Saka is a rare survivor from the old days in which Arsenal had an ageing, underwhelming side, rather than this young, exciting, title-challenging team we see today.
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