England manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted he’ll have to be a bit careful with the fitness of Bukayo Saka at the World Cup after he played through injury for Arsenal recently.
The Gunners star has just celebrated winning the Premier League title with his club, but he also didn’t quite hit his peak form at any point in the season just gone.
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On his day, Saka is a world class attacking player who has shown his value to the England national team, but it seems Tuchel is aware he doesn’t have a fully fit player on his hands.
Speaking at his latest press conference, as quoted by BBC Sport, Tuchel provided some insight into Saka’s situation and his availability for this summer’s World Cup.
Thomas Tuchel on Bukayo Saka’s fitness
“We still have to take a little bit of care for Bukayo who had an injury in March and carried it through the club campaign,” Tuchel said.
“He made himself available at the end of the season and did so brilliantly, but he was managed in between matches. That continues a bit at the moment – we are building him up.
“We just came from training and everyone was involved including Bukayo.”
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What other options do England have?
If Saka ends up missing games for England, Tuchel can at least call on a number of other decent options in the attacking midfield department.
Noni Madueke is a like-for-like option as a left-footed winger who plays on the right, but the Three Lions could also experiment with others like Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon out there.
Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze are probably also versatile enough to fill in there if required, so England shouldn’t be too reliant on Saka, even if it would undoubtedly be better to have him playing as many games as possible.
The 24-year-old has 14 goals in 48 England caps, including two at the last World Cup and one at Euro 2024 two years ago.
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