‘Plays more than he should’… Freddie Ljungberg says one Arsenal player should be on the bench more often

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Bukayo Saka went off for Arsenal at half-time against Sheffield United on Monday, and many fans were fearing the worst when this substitution occurred.

However, after the game, Mikel Arteta confirmed that Saka was suffering with illness rather than injury, alleviating many worries.

With that being said, there is a wider conversation to be had around Saka and his workload at the moment.

The winger has played almost every game for Arsenal and England for the past three or four years, and there’s a serious worry about potential burnout.

Speaking on Premier League Productions, Freddie Ljungberg has been discussing the number of minutes Saka has already played in his career, and he says that there is an argument to make that he shouldn’t play as much as he does.

Bukayo Saka shouldn’t play so often

Ljungberg shared his verdict on the attacker.

“There’s a difference, you can say what is right and what is wrong, maybe Bukayo plays more than he should, he’s young, he runs a lot and he should be rested. But what we mention in clubs is minutes when they’re young are important to get experience in the trade, and that’s where I feel Bukayo has an advantage because he plays, but then you can say Foden can be fresh when he plays and he’s won a lot of trophies,” Ljungberg said.

Difficult

This is such a tough situation to navigate

On one hand, we can see where Ljungberg is coming from here.

Saka has played too much football already for a player of his age, and as we’ve seen on countless occasions, too many minutes as a youngster can lead to issues later down the line.

However, the question is, how do you drop Saka? The England international is Arsenal’s best player, and the Gunners don’t have anyone else who can play in the same way he does.

If Arsenal want to win the league, Saka has to be on the pitch whenever possible, even if it does lead to burnout later on.