Berta masterstroke: The next Saka has already agreed to sign for Arsenal

As the Arsenal players walked up to collect their winner’s medals and lift the Premier League trophy, no player was sporting a bigger beaming smile than Bukayo Saka.

Not much fazes Saka. He’s usually always got a radiant grin on his face but he has been through the good and the bad alongside Mikel Arteta.

He has been there since the start and it does not feel like it was that long ago since the winger promised supporters that they deserved better, posting on social media slumped on the grass.

Well, Saka has delivered on his promised that better times were coming. As he replicated that photo and post of many years ago, he did so this time not with his head in the direction of the turf staring at his boots. This time he was staring at the biggest prize in English football.

His journey from the days of Unai Emery to where he is today has been nothing short of remarkable.

Saka’s difficult season ends in glory

With the signing of Noni Madueke last summer, it marked a bid to give Saka some much-needed competition.

It’s safe to say the Hale Ender has been run into the ground in recent years. He has been the poster boy of the project, the man the team look to when things are going wrong. However, he has been over-relied upon.

Arsenal and indeed Saka paid the price for that mid-way through the 2024/25 season when the Englishman suffered a nasty hamstring injury.

He has arguably been trying to get back up to speed ever since and endured another injury-hit campaign in 2025/26, meaning he ended the domestic season with just seven goals and seven assists to his name in the league. Those are not bad numbers, sure, but it’s some way behind the type of output you would expect from one of the game’s best wingers.

Yet, when it matters most, Saka came alive, right at the business end of the season.

After missing a series of games following the Carabao Cup final with an achilles problem, including the defeat to City, he returned to the starting lineup for the 3-0 win over Fulham.

He only played the first 45 minutes but his impact was devastating, not only assisting Viktor Gyokeres’ first goal but also scoring himself. It was Saka back at his very best and he followed that up by scoring the only goal of the Champions League semi-final second leg.

While that was the best moment of the academy graduate’s season, he also popped up with the vital assist for the game’s only goal when they defeated Burnley a week ago today. It was ultimately the moment that won them the league.

It was brilliant to see all of the players lift the trophy on Sunday but there was perhaps no better feeling than when Saka, a boy who has been with Arsenal since he was seven, held it aloft in front of the away end at Selhurst Park.

For Arsenal, they have been champing at the bit to find players with similar qualities and similar consistency. Fortunately, long before the title was won, Andrea Berta was able to secure what looks like another Saka.

Arsenal’s new Saka can bolster future title charges

Arsenal’s biggest priority this summer simply has to be signing a new left winger. There were not many holes to pick in Areta’s team but on that flank there was certainly an issue.

Gabriel Martinelli scored one league goal all season, an important one at that against Manchester City, while before his strike against West Ham a few weeks ago, Leandro Trossard had not found the net in 25 straight games. It was a dismal record from two previously important players.

That explains links to several wide players, notably Anthony Gordon and Bradley Barcola. Yet, what if Arsenal have already signed a hugely exciting winger?

They may not be an out and out left sided forward but back in December, it was confirmed by the club that they had agreed deals to sign Ecuadorian twins Holger and Edwin Quintero from Independiente del Valle.

Not aware of the significance of these two signings? Well, Independiente possess one of the best youth systems in world football. They produced PSG’s William Pacho, Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo and Arsenal’s Piero Hincapie.

Now, the Quintero twins look to be the next cabs of the rank. They’re hugely exciting too. Holger is an attacking midfielder by trade while Edwin is a winger, someone who boasts similar qualities to the aforementioned Saka.

Currently just 16 years of age, neither player will join officially until the summer of 2027 when they are able to pen professional terms with the Gunners.

Once they do arrive, Arsenal will have two of the best teenagers in world football at their disposal.

It’s perhaps Edwin Quintero who the Gunners should be the most excited about. Writing back in January 2025, scout Jacek Kulig outlined a crop of young players with 10/10 potential and on that list included not just Edwin but also Max Dowman. That gives you all the indication you need of how special this young South American is.

So, what’s he all about? Well, the left footed right winger “has the ability to run games and create something out of nothing” in the words of Como scout Ben Mattinson. That certainly sounds a bit like Saka, doesn’t it?

Further said to have “excellent” technique, ball control and “superb” agility by Kulig, this is a player with an amazing low centre of gravity just like Saka. Lots of his traits align incredibly well with Arsenal’s number 7 already.

Quintero is yet to play any first team football but plenty of those who watch regular academy football have suggested he is a remarkable talent, someone who could walk into the Arsenal first team in a few years time, potentially on Saka’s right flank. How exciting is that?