Mikel Arteta has hit back at suggestions sparked by Harry Kane that Bukayo Saka pulled out of England duty despite being fit to play.
Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice both pulled out of the November international break through injury, but the pair were available in the squad for the Gunners again as club football returned on Saturday.
Rice was only fit to make the bench, and he didn’t end up playing any of the match. But Saka did, completing 83 minutes and providing a goal and an assist for his team.
There shouldn’t be any question marks around Saka’s commitment to club and country, with how often he’s made himself available for both. But his injuries are genuine, and they’ve forced him to miss games for England and Arsenal over the last month and a half.
As a reminder, it was on England duty that Saka first picked up an issue, coming off early in an October game against Greece.
Yet England captain Harry Kane provoked a witch hunt against his own teammates over the break, suggesting the players withdrawing from international duty were ‘taking advantage’.
“It’s a shame this week, obviously,” Kane said of the withdrawals. “It’s a tough period of the season and maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit.
“I don’t really like it if I’m totally honest. England comes before anything and any club situation.”
Those comments were put to Mikel Arteta in his press conference on Saturday, with one journalist asking how the manager would respond to suggestions that Saka had feigned injury to avoid taking part in the November internationals.
“We can send you an MRI scan!” Arteta responded. “Very simple. But that’s a communication, it was very clear between the medical staff of Arsenal and the national team.
“He hasn’t done anything, he was away and he needed time to heal and had one training session.”
So it wasn’t that Saka was fit and available throughout the international break, he just returned to training at the last minute in time for the Arsenal match.
England supporters should be glad to see the winger available again, not engaging in conspiracy theories.