Why Bukayo Saka is now England's most important player in Euros pursuit

 

Euro 2024 has been a difficult tournament for England. The Three Lions are into the semi-finals of the competition but their performances haven’t exactly set the world alight and their star names have generally struggled.  

 

They have scored just five goals across their five matches in Germany with just three players finding the back of the net for Gareth Southgate’s side. Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham have struck twice while Bukayo Saka opened his account in his Player of the Match showing against Switzerland on Saturday.  

 

Saka’s performances at Euro 2024 have flown under the radar. He played a pivotal part in Bellingham’s winner against Serbia and then Gareth Southgate really utilised the Arsenal man’s versatility in the extra-time win over Slovakia in the round-of-16.  

 

The 23-year-old was then given the right wing-back role for the quarter-final clash with Switzerland. It was a bold decision. Yes, Saka started out life in the Arsenal first-team as a full-back but he’s a fully-fledged wide forward now. He finished the 2023/24 campaign with 25 Premier League goal involvements having scored 16 times. Some forwards may have felt as though a wing-back role was beneath them and that it was a waste of their attacking talents.  

 

Not Saka though.  

 

 

The England and Arsenal No.7 put in a defensive shift, winning three of four tackles and 10 of his 15 duels. But he didn’t let that impact how influential he was going forward. Per UEFA, the 38-cap international produced the most ball carries into the final third (25) and attempted the most crosses (nine) while 63% of their final third passes on the night arrived down the right.  

 

Saka also completed four of four dribbles, a total no player could better. He played two key passes which is, again, a return no player could surpass. Michel Aebischer, the Swiss full-back defending Saka, could not deal with the 23-year-old and everything good England managed to do on Saturday arrived down their right flank.  

 

It wasn’t Saka FC but it wasn’t far off.  

 

Even without his goal, one that could well be described as quintessential Saka having cut in from the right before drilling a left-footed effort into the bottom corner, he was the standout performer.  

 

He finished the quarter-final with a WhoScored rating of 8.91. To put into context how impressive this is, no other player from either side managed to get a rating over 7.50, that achieved by Bellingham. Saka was comfortably the best player on the pitch and he managed to put in this type of performance playing as a wing-back against a well-organised Switzerland team.  

 

 

With the exception of the Arsenal forward, everyone else struggled to impose themselves on this game.  

 

Everyone must’ve wondered whether or not Saka would step up for a penalty during the shootout after what had happened against Italy three years ago in the delayed Euro 2020 tournament.  

 

He showed great character and mental strength to take the third penalty for the Three Lions. It was an assured spot-kick too. He rolled his effort into the bottom corner, sending Yann Sommer the wrong way. Not that he needed to having done so much since then, it certainly vanquished those demons of yesteryear.  

 

His smile as he walked back to his teammates said more than 1,000 words ever could. It would’ve been unfair, unjust and cruel had he missed, especially after putting in the performance he did. The spot-kick was the exclamation point on the best individual showing from an England player at this tournament.  

 

Southgate heaped praise onto his star performer in the aftermath, saying: "He’s a dream to work with. He’s a fabulous boy. Such a good professional, so much fun to be around. He does an amazing job for the team with and without the ball." 

 

Another big showing in the semi-final this week and he could sneak into the Player of the Tournament conversations. And given he’ll be full of confidence, you wouldn’t put it past him to steal the show against the Netherlands.

Why Bukayo Saka is now England's most important player in Euros pursuit