Saka Gets New Head Coach As Arsenal Confirm Emery's Permanent Replacement

Published: December 20, 2019

Nigerian winger Bukayo has a new head coach at Arsenal, with the Gunners confirming via their official website, arsenal.com on Friday afternoon that former captain Mikel Arteta will resume duties on Sunday, December 22.

Speaking at Friday's pre-match press conference ahead of the visit of Leicester City, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola had let the cat out of the bag when he revealed that his assistant, Mikel Arteta was in London finalizing a deal with the Emirates Stadium outfit.

In his first words as Arsenal coach, Arteta told Arsenal's official website : "This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world.

"We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke, and the senior people from the club."

Arteta noted that there are a crop of young players making inroads at the club - and that includes the 18-year-old Saka who has been training with the first team since the start of the 2019-2020 campaign and has 14 matches under his belt this term.

"We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it.

'"I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy," the Spaniard added.

Saka made his first team debut under Unai Emery as a substitute in a Europa League match against Vorskla Poltava on November 29, 2018.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : arsenal.com