Bukayo Saka signs a new long-term contract at Arsenal

The England winger’s contract is worth close to £15million a year, taking into account bonuses and other linked payments.

A verbal agreement was reached between Saka and Arsenal in February, as revealed by Mail Sport.

Saka, 21, has become an integral part of Mikel Arteta’s side and his performances this season have made him one of the most sought-after players in Europe.

Manchester City were among a host of clubs monitoring Saka as contract talks with the Gunners dragged on. But he has now committed his future to Arsenal and become one of the club’s highest earners.

‘I’m just really happy, I’m at the right place to make the next step. It’s a beautiful club and I’m just so happy,’ Saka began.  ‘When I was at the Academy at Hale End, I was just a kid who wanted to play and enjoy, and obviously as you get older it gets more and more serious. 

‘It’s been a great journey with lots of hard work and I just kept that drive in me. When I made my first team debut, that’s when I really realized like ‘oh my gosh, I’ve really done it”. I’ve achieved that dream and its now about staying here and maintaining that.’ 

Saka added that although it ‘hurt a lot’ to think about the end of this season, he had seen ‘a lot of positive change’ during his time in the first team.  

‘One thing I can say is since the last two, three years I’ve been playing, I’ve seen this team and the club grow and we are going in the right direction,’ he added. 

‘The supporters have been so good this year. Even when I see supporters out and away from the stadium, we have so much in common in terms of how passionate we are for this team. 

‘I feel like some of the supporters I meet, if they could play, they would give everything, I can see it in their eyes when we are speaking. We are all really connecting more and you can feel it in the stadium’.

The winger reserved high praise for both his manager Arteta and the club’s sporting director, Edu, highlighting the belief that both men have had in him. 

‘Mikel really cares about the players on a personal level. As a player you really connect with him’ Saka said.  ‘Personally, Mikel has been so good for me. Since he’s come in I’ve improved so much and I’m so grateful to him.

‘Edu is great and is the person who helped me get my number 7. I couldn’t believe it, he just said, yeah ok we can give it to you, of course. 

‘Those are one of those moments where I realized how much everyone at this club believed in me. It was such a nice moment.’ 

Saka is among a group of young players Arsenal have worked hard to tie down.

Talks continue over a new deal for French defender William Saliba, 22, whose absence though injury has hit the Gunners hard in the closing weeks of the campaign.

Arsenal had already triggered an extension in Saka’s previous contract, tying him down for a further 12 months to 2024.

But Tuesday’s news comes as a huge boost for Arteta’s side, whose title hopes evaporated on the run-in.