Bukayo Saka exclusive: 'When it's your time, it's your time' - Arsenal star determined to deliver trophy glory

Saka joined Arsenal's famed Hale End academy at the age of seven and has not looked back. Recalling his early introduction to football, and asked if he's been an Arsenal fan since day one, the Gunners forward says: "Always. As a kid, football was just joy. When you had the ball at your feet, nothing else mattered. That was my happiness."

It was in November 2018 that then-manager Unai Emery handed Saka his Arsenal bow - a Europa League tie in Ukraine in sub-zero temperatures, with Saka having started on the bench. "It was freezing cold! We were playing away and it was minus-something degrees," the 24-year-old remembers, with Saka having replaced Aaron Ramsey against Vorskla Poltava in a game that the Gunners would win 3-0.

"I was itching to get on, praying the manager would give me an opportunity. Obviously if the team was winning then he would feel more free to bring the young players on and that's what happened. I came on and I just felt so free, just enjoying it."

Fast forward a month and Saka was given the first of what would be over 200 Premier League appearances, and counting, in a 4-1 victory over Fulham. On that moment that he was give his bow in England's top flight, he says: "There was a mixture of nerves and excitement. Again, I was just itching to get on. I remember it was on New Year's Day. What a way to start the year. Make my Premier League debut, the league we've all been watching our whole lives. So it was more excitement."

Saka has flourished under Arteta's guidance, with the Spaniard helping to develop the winger into one of the world's most fearsome attacking weapons. It was Arteta who handed Saka the captain's armband for the first time, too - a dominant 5-0 win over Sheffield United in October 2023 - and the England forward speaks glowingly about the manager's influence on his career.

He says: "He has amazing ideas, a top coach. If you spoke to him you'd buy into his ideas. He's that convincing. He connects with me as a person, he understands me well, my family as well. I feel that connection."

The presence of the former Everton midfielder was undoubtedly part of the reason Saka agreed a new long-term contract with the club back in February. Asked if it was always Arsenal for Saka, the Gunners' No.7 emphatically replies: "Easily!"

Arsenal are edging closer to winning their first Premier League title since 2003, with the Gunners also still in with a chance of claiming a historic double. Saka has played a pivotal role in a hugely impressive 2025-26 campaign up to now, including scoring the winning goal in the Champions League semi-final second leg, and he remains convinced that the north Londoners are on the brink of something special.

The 24-year-old has, however, had to deal with his fair share of setbacks in an Arsenal shirt, including a near miss in the 2022-23 title race that saw Manchester City emerge as winners, five points ahead of the second-placed Gunners. Asked what he took from that disappointment, Saka recalls: "Initially it hurts. You have to bounce back. The biggest things don't come easy, you've got to work for them, fight for them. When it's your time, it's your time."

So what would it mean to Saka to add more silverware to the FA Cup and two Community Shields that he's already won with Arsenal? "That's the dream. It would mean everything."

Bukayo is an ambassador for the Chase football coaching programme, which provides free access to coaching qualifications for individuals where cost is a barrier across the UK. 

He took part in a grassroots training session in North London with former player-turned-coach Ibrahim Fuad and his team, before discussing how coaching is a great way to keep former academy players involved in the game. Ibrahim is one of over 7,000 aspiring coaches across the UK who has benefitted from the programme so far. 

Flying high both domestically and in Europe, Arsenal's 2025-26 season hasn't been without its testing moments. Despite Manchester City having closed the gap at the top of the table, the Gunners have successfully regrouped and refocused - win their final two games of the Premier League season, against Burnley and Crystal Palace respectively, and the title is theirs. After that, all roads lead to Budapest and a shot at Champions League glory against PSG.

When asked how Arsenal manage to reset themselves through the ups and the downs of what has been a physically and emotionally gruelling campaign that will have comprised of 63 matches in total, Saka says: "It depends on the context, and what's necessary. Whether we need to get together and speak or whether we just let it be. The group we have is very tight-knit, we understand each other well, and we're quite close so we deal with ups and downs quite well."

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