Mikel Arteta believes Bukayo Saka’s quad injury is healing well, saying the Arsenal winger has “some very good symptoms right now”, but he admits the club still can’t say for certain what caused it.
Speaking at his press conference on Friday, Arteta agreed that Bukayo Saka could still be out for at least another month. What changed was the tone. For the first time since the injury, the update came with real hope about how the muscle is responding.
Saka has missed all four games Arsenal have played since he limped off inside the opening ten minutes against Bayern Munich last month. The first expectation at the club was up to eight weeks out, but the scans were hard to read because of the amount of fluid that had built up around the muscle, which is why the picture was still so vague in our Arsenal injury news before Hull City earlier in the week.
What did Arteta say about Saka’s injury?
When it was put to him that Saka could miss at least another month, Arteta replied: “I think so but I don’t know.”
He then explained where the optimism comes from. “The way it happened, it wasn’t a really aggressive action. So that gives you some hope as well that the tissue will repair in a more efficient and faster way as well and he has some very good symptoms right now. So we have to wait and see.”
In the same press conference he was just as clear that nobody should expect him back soon. “We’re talking about weeks,” Arteta said. “Let’s see. After the international break, he’s going to start hitting the pitch and start to have more activity, see how he feels. Unfortunately, he’s going to be out for a while.”
Why did Saka get injured?
That is the part Arsenal still can’t answer. Saka had made a bright start against Bayern, burst away from Alphonso Davies and then collapsed as he played a simple pass out wide with nobody pressing him.
Asked whether the club had got to the bottom of it, Arteta said: “Yeah, there are a few things that we believe can contribute. I prefer not to mention that here. But in reality as well to put a finger on something, maybe after you are totally wrong because there was something else. So it’s very difficult.”
He added that the conversations have included the player himself. “We have obviously thought and think and openly discussed a lot of things even with him to understand what could possibly have gone wrong. But the reality probably is that unfortunately we don’t know. We can think that it is that but nobody has a certainty that it was just that.”
It is an unusually open answer from Arteta, and a fair one. Nobody can point to a heavy challenge or a collision, so there is no obvious lesson to take into his rehab.
Which games will Bukayo Saka miss?
Hull City on Saturday is the last game before the international break, and Saka won’t be involved. The clearer timeline should come after the break, when he is expected to go back to individual training on the grass.
The worry is what follows. Between the end of November and Christmas, Arsenal face Borussia Dortmund, both Manchester clubs, Real Madrid, tough trips to Newcastle and Brentford, and a north London derby away from home. Saka looks likely to miss many of those.
That keeps the right wing in the hands of Noni Madueke, who missed out on the latest England squad but showed in Prague that he can make it click as Arsenal’s stand-in for Saka.
Is a Bukayo Saka return before Christmas realistic?
We think it is, but only just. “Very good symptoms” and an injury that wasn’t caused by an aggressive action are the most encouraging words Arteta has used about Saka since Bayern. They do not change the fact that he still hasn’t trained on the grass.
The date that matters is the first session after the international break. If Saka gets through that individual work without a setback, the second half of December starts to look possible. If not, January is the honest target.
Either way, there is no reason to rush him. Arsenal are 14 games unbeaten going into the Hull game, Madueke is playing well, and with nobody sure what caused the injury, the worst thing Arsenal could do is bring Saka back a week early and find out the hard way.
