Arsenal’s winger Bukayo Saka is 19-year-old today, September 5, and his club did not fail to mark the date on his behalf.
The Nigerian born England international who was yet to post anything on social media to celebrate his birthday as of the time of publishing this report, retweeted a tweet Arsenal shared to wish him a happy birthday via the club’s official Twitter handle.
“Happy 19th Birthday”, the club simply captioned a picture of Bukayo Saka where he posed with the FA Cup trophy the club won on 1st of August 2020 after defeating Chelsea in the final of the competition.
Happy 19th birthday, @BukayoSaka87! 🎈 pic.twitter.com/9EuH83Ton3
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 5, 2020
Meet the celebrant Bukayo Saka
Bukayo Saka was born on September 5, 2001, in Ealing, Greater London, to Nigerian parents. The pacing left winger who can also play as a left-back is a graduate of Arsenal’s Hale End academy.
He started his professional football career after he signed his first professional contract with the club and gained promotion to the club’s under-23 team when he was 17-year-old.
Months later, the then football manager of Arsenal, Unai Emery gave Bukayo Saka his first senior team experience when he featured him as a 68th-minute substitute for Aaron Ramsey in their Europa League match against Vorskla Poltava on 29 November 2018.
Bukayo Saka played his first Premier League match for Arsenal on 1 January 2019 when he came on for Alex Iwobi in the 83rd minute. Though he showed a lot of brilliance in his first couple of games for the club, he had to wait until his teammates Sead Kolašinac and Kieran Tierney got injured before he was able to establish himself fully as a regular player under coach Mikel Arteta.
Saka is a kid with a dream
In his first full season as an Arsenal‘s first-team player, Bukayo Saka has proven to be a kid with a dream just like the caption on an Instagram post he shared a couple of weeks ago.
At 18-year-old, the Arsenal‘s starlet became a regular figure in Mikel Arteta’s team that won the 2019-2020 FA Cup and 2020 Community Shield. In the just-concluded season, he played a whopping 39 games for Arsenal, scoring 4 goals and providing 11 assists in all competitions.
He has been nominated for the Premier League young player of the year award which will most likely go to 18-year-old Mason Greenwood of Manchester United who scored 17 goals and provided 5 assists in 49 appearances for United in all competitions. Such a performance has earned him a call-up to England national team, unlike Saka who is yet to decide whether to play for Nigeria or England.
Before he turned 19, Bukayo Saka renewed his contract with Arsenal on 1 July 2020. The new contract will keep him at the club until 2024.
Bukayo Saka’s new contract is an improvement on the contract he signed with the club in 2018 which reportedly earned him £3,000-per-week. The new contract now earns him £30,000-per-week which is not too bad for the teenager.
