3 reasons why Gareth Southgate should call Bukayo Saka into the England squad

With just months to go until the start of Euro 2020 – and less than a month before Gareth Southgate names his England squad for friendly games against Italy and Denmark – the competition for places in the Three Lions’ squad is beginning to heat up. The likes of Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Harry Maguire seem like definite choices now, while others such as Harry Winks and Jadon Sancho seem to have confirmed their spots with their strong performances this season.

A handful of uncapped players are still making their case, though, and one such player is Arsenal’s 18-year old breakthrough star Bukayo Saka. A product of the Gunners’ youth academy, Saka has been deployed as a left-back in recent weeks and has impressed massively, delivering a total of 2 goals and 8 assists in all competitions this season.

But should Gareth Southgate take the youngster – who is also eligible to play for Nigeria – to Euro 2020? Here are 3 reasons why he should.

#1 England need another left-back badly

Ben Chilwell has been deployed as England's first-choice left-back in recent games

Gareth Southgate is relatively lucky as an England manager in that he’s got plenty of talent to choose from in all positions, but perhaps the weakest area that the Three Lions currently have is at left-back. Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell has been deployed as England’s first choice in the role in recent games and has been impressive, but outside of him, the options look pretty bleak.

Ashley Young – who was the first choice during the 2018 World Cup – has retired from international football, while Danny Rose and Luke Shaw have seen their form plummet over recent seasons to the point where it’d be a huge risk to pick either. Ryan Bertrand seems to have completely fallen off Southgate’s radar, which means that for a backup option to Chilwell, England probably need to look further afield.

Manchester United’s 19-year old Brandon Williams has enjoyed a breakout season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but he hasn’t been quite as impressive as Saka has been at Arsenal – and he certainly doesn’t offer the attacking outlet that the Gunners man does.

Realistically, Chilwell is going to be Southgate’s first choice for the tournament, which means that it makes more sense to use Saka – a younger player – as his backup rather than an older player like Rose anyway. Southgate has always looked to the future since taking over as England boss, and he should follow that trend here, just as he did with Trent Alexander-Arnold at the 2018 World Cup.

#2 He’s extremely versatile

Saka can also play as a winger or a wide forward

Easily the most surprising thing about Saka’s rise to prominence as a left-back is that technically speaking, he’s not a left-back at all. The 18-year old made his name in Arsenal’s academy as a flying winger – the position he debuted in under Unai Emery in the 2018-19 season – and has also played as a wide forward too. It’s only in recent games that he’s been used in the left-back position where he’s impressed so much.

That means that he’s an excellent option for Southgate’s England squad due to his versatility. By taking Saka, not only would the Three Lions have an alternative to Ben Chilwell at left-back, but they’d also have another wide forward to add to their ranks alongside the likes of Jadon Sancho and Raheem Sterling if need be.

Given the current injury status of Marcus Rashford – and the lack of recent game time for Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi – it could well end up the case that England need to deploy a different wide forward during the tournament should either Sterling or Sancho pick up an injury or suspension, and in that case, Saka – who has proven that he’s capable of both creating and scoring goals - could prove to be the perfect solution.

And of course, using the backup left-back as another option as a wide forward would also allow Southgate some more wiggle room when it comes to other areas of his squad – such as attacking midfield, where he may find it hard to choose between the likes of Mason Mount, Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Dele Alli.

#3 He’d give England another creative dimension

Saka could be as creative on England's left as Trent Alexander-Arnold is on the right

One area that Southgate’s England have often come under criticism for is a perceived lack of creativity, particularly from the midfield. Southgate has tried numerous players in a creative midfield spot – Ross Barkley, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard and Mason Mount amongst them – and nobody has really impressed. And yet England have still scored plenty of goals, particularly in their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.

Those goals have tended to come from different creative areas – namely from the wide forwards, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho, or the team’s full-backs, usually a combination of Ben Chilwell or Danny Rose on the left, and Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kieran Trippier on the right.

That’s why it’d be an excellent idea for Southgate to dispense of Rose – and Luke Shaw too – and pick Saka as his other left-back option. Like Alexander-Arnold and Chilwell, Saka is an attack-oriented full-back – a result of his beginnings as a winger – and in fact, he has more assists than Chilwell in 2019-20, with 8 in all competitions compared to Chilwell’s 3.

His excellent creativity has been on show in Arsenal’s last 2 Premier League games, as he skinned Newcastle’s Valentino Lazaro to set up a goal for Nicolas Pepe, and fired an incredible cross for Eddie Nketiah to score against Everton. Judging by this, if England are looking for a creative option from an unexpected area of the field, then they should look no further than the Gunners youngster.