Bukayo Saka has signed a new, long-term deal with Arsenal to remain at his boyhood club until 2027.
The England international, 21, has committed his future to Arsenal and become one of the club’s highest earners.
The deal, as revealed by Mail Sport in February, is understood to be – inclusive of bonuses and other attached payments – close to £15m, taking his weekly wage to around £300,000 per week.
Saka is among a group of young players whom Arsenal have worked to tie down this season. Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes penned new contracts earlier in the year, while goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale announced his extension last week.
Upon confirmation of the new contract, Saka shared his delight at extending his stay at the ‘beautiful club’.
‘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 realised 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 realised how much everyone at this club believed in me. It was such a nice moment.’
