Bukayo Saka's Fitness Challenges Ahead of World Cup
Bukayo Saka knows what it feels like when a season creaks under the weight of history.
He was at the heart of the mayhem in north London when the Premier League trophy finally came back to Arsenal’s side of the capital after 22 long years. He then carried that form into Europe, starting the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain, only to walk away with the hollow ache of a penalty shootout defeat.
Now he is chasing another summit with England – and once again, his body is fighting him every step of the way.
A star England dare not break
Saka’s importance to Mikel Arteta is unquestioned. When he is fit, he is the pulse of Arsenal’s right flank, a creative force and a relentless runner. That is precisely why his recurring physical problems have become such a concern.
The long-standing Achilles issue has followed him into this World Cup campaign in North America. It has not gone away, only been managed. So when England opened against Croatia, Saka was not on the teamsheet but on the bench, watching club team-mate Noni Madueke take his place on the right.
He has yet to complete a full session in the build-up to Tuesday’s meeting with Ghana. While the rest of Thomas Tuchel’s squad went through their paces on the grass over the weekend, Saka stayed inside, working through an individual programme, his fitness treated as a separate project.
That delicate balance – between risk and reward – now defines his tournament.
Barnes: “It’s his fitness, not his football”
John Barnes, who knows the demands of playing wide at the highest level, sees the issue clearly.
Speaking to GOAL in association with viagogo and their ‘World Cuts’ campaign, the former England winger stripped away the noise around Saka’s status.
“It's his fitness,” Barnes said. “I mean, his form has been great for Arsenal, but it's his fitness.
“Madueke is fit, so therefore he may be ahead of him at that particular moment in time. So, obviously, Thomas Tuchel will know how fit he is, how much he can influence games. We know the quality he actually has, so I think it's really just down to his fitness.
“And I don't know how fit he is, how many games he's had, whether Madueke is ahead of him. From a form perspective or a quality perspective, we can see what he can do. So I think his fitness is the biggest issue as to whether he starts for England or not.”
The numbers back up the sense that Saka has been playing within his limits. Last season he finished with 11 goals in all competitions, only seven of them in the Premier League – a modest return for a player of his influence, but one heavily shaped by time spent on the treatment table.
Barnes, though, refuses to judge him by goals alone.
Goals, glory and the bigger picture
Asked whether Saka’s output needs to jump, Barnes pushed back against the obsession with individual tallies.
“His goal output doesn't have to be great if they win the league. And if England wins the World Cup, he doesn't score one goal, it's not important. What's important is him being part of a team that can win.
“Once again, I don't think Thomas Tuchel is looking at individual numbers because if he scores more and Marcus Rashford scores more, you know what that means? Harry Kane will score less.
“So it's about the way you play to create for other people to score. I don't think he'll worry about his goal-scoring form, because it's not about the individual and what he does. If he can be part of a team and help that team to win, then I'm sure his lack of goals isn't going to be an issue.
“It's to do with how the team performs, to create chances for maybe Jude Bellingham and for Harry Kane to score, for them to work hard as a team, to be creative, and yes, they may score the odd goal. So he's looking at the way the team plays, rather than how any individual performs, Thomas Tuchel, which is the right thing to do.”
In other words, Saka’s worth to England is not measured by a goal chart. It is measured by the fluency he brings, the angles he opens, the pressure he relieves. When he is right, the whole right side of the pitch feels different.
Tuchel’s slow burn
Tuchel appears to agree – and he is in no rush to break a player he believes he will need deeper into the tournament.
The England manager used Saka from the bench against Croatia, a controlled reintroduction that still carried impact. The Arsenal forward played a key role in the move that ended with Marcus Rashford adding the gloss to a 4-2 victory, a reminder of how quickly Saka can change the rhythm of a game even at less than full tilt.
“Bukayo is ready and will get more and more ready,” Tuchel said afterwards. “I think once we go to the last game of this group he will be ready.”
That last group game comes against Panama on Saturday. Between now and then, every training decision, every minute on the pitch, will be weighed against the risk of aggravating that Achilles.
Ghana await on Tuesday, a step up in intensity and a different kind of physical test. Saka’s absence from full training suggests caution still rules. England want a long stay in North America, not a short, spectacular burst that ends with one of their most gifted players limping out of the story.
The question now is simple and ruthless: when the knockout rounds arrive and the margins shrink, will Bukayo Saka be the man England can unleash, or the talent they talk about in the conditional tense – what he might have done, if only his body had let him?
