Bukayo Saka claims the Arsenal squad is now ‘hungrier’ than the team Mikel Arteta inherited

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Arsenal star Bukayo Saka is one of only a few current players who were at the club when Mikel Arteta returned as manager in 2019.

Arteta inherited a mess from Unai Emery, with an ageing and underperforming squad, a fractured dressing room and a broken relationship with the fans all contributing to Arsenal’s mid-table position.

He has since rebuilt the squad into a young, title-challenging side which the fans adore, and Saka has been instrumental in the job Arteta has done.

The 22-year-old started as a left-back in Arteta’s first game in charge on Boxing Day in 2019, in a lineup which featured the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and David Luiz, and Saka has now explained the key differences between that squad and the one firing on all cylinders now.

Bukayo Saka outlines improvement in Arsenal squad mentality

Speaking on the Men In Blazers Podcast, Saka claimed that the squad Arteta inherited, with only him and Reiss Nelson remaining from the starting lineup from his first game in charge, was more experienced, but perhaps less hungry for success than the current team.

“I think the main difference is that yeah all the players have changed, I’m sure Reiss Nelson was playing though, was he not?” Saka stated when asked about Arteta’s first lineup.

“I think I’ll say that team obviously had more experience, more older players, but the team now I’d say is younger, and I think we’re very hungry.

“We’re obviously experienced as well with what we experienced last season. It only made us hungrier, also I think with that fire in our belly, we all want to give our best each game to win, I’d say that’s how the team is today.”

Arsenal’s change in mentality under Mikel Arteta

Arteta’s first squad did have some individual attacking talent, with a star striker like Aubameyang and big names such as Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe. However, the squad was still lacking in defensive cohesion, and mentally, it was well below the level required as a whole.

Saka and other young stars such as Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli were key in giving Arsenal a fresh, younger look, and their mentality has been ideal for Arteta as they are hungry to succeed.

Arsenal did fall short in the title race last season, but it does show how far they have come. Arsenal were a team in crisis when Arteta first arrived, and he had to repair both a lack of quality and a poor collective mentality amongst the squad he inherited before he could fully implement the tactical ideas we now see today.