Ian Wright speaks out on Arsenal fans turning on him for Bukayo Saka demand

Bukayo Saka was England’s man of the match against Switzerland (Picture: Getty)

Ian Wright insists he understands the instincts of Arsenal fans who leapt to Bukayo Saka’s defence after the Gunners legend urged Gareth Southgate to pick him at left-back.

England have limped into the semi finals of Euro 2024, where they will face Netherlands on Wednesday, on the back of five largely unconvincing displays.

So disjointed had Southgate’s team been during the group stages that Wright argued that Saka might need to come to England’s rescue as a makeshift left-back.

Luke Shaw’s lack of fitness had seen Kieran Trippier deployed in an unnatural position and his propensity to cut back in on his favoured right foot had been slowing England’s attack.

As it transpired, Saka was given a new role in last weekend’s quarter-final against Switzerland when he terrorised his opponent having been deployed as a rampaging right wingback.

The 22-year-old produced his best display of the tournament, scoring England’s equaliser before displaying remarkable composure by converting his penalty in a tense shootout.

Wright, meanwhile, had irked a second of Arsenal’s fanbase for suggesting that Saka should be move to allow for the inclusion of Chelsea forward Cole Palmer.

Bukayo Saka celebrated scoring his penalty against Switzerland (Picture: Getty)

‘If we’re going to be totally honest about him [Bukayo Saka] and his levels for England the last few years since the Euros [in 2021], why it went all crazy with him playing on the left side [as a left-back],’ Wright told Sky Bet reacting to the fuore.

‘The only reason why you’d say that is because you’re looking for a solution to the problem that the manager has caused in not bringing a backup left-back at the time.

‘The only reason why people say that is because he’s capable – he played in one game in three different positions. Arsenal fans feel that they need to protect him because he means so much for Arsenal fans.’

Despite showing significant signs of improvement last time out Wright is confident there is still more to come from England as ‘the stars begin to align’.

He added: ‘[On why he’s optimistic about England’s chances] We’ve felt better – I can’t look at it any other way than glass half-full because we’ve done all that up until this point, and we’ve got more to give.

‘You can’t tell me that we can’t see more out of players like Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham, and Harry Kane isn’t at his best. It feels like there is more to come at a time where we’re going to need it. I don’t think we’re going back to how bad we’ve been playing.”

‘Now with [Luke] Shaw, if [Phil] Foden is out there [on the left], then if he does come inside, then you’ll have Shaw going outside. That’s what we didn’t have so you can probably work that into it. There’s a lot of things happening now where it’s starting to align for us now.’

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.