On September 4, according to London time (BST), Carragher published an article in his Telegraph column, sharing his thoughts on Saka.

Carragher's Full Column:

Saka is at a crossroads in his career, and we will soon know whether he is destined to remain a very good Arsenal player or whether he can elevate himself to become a great player in the Premier League, Champions League and for England.

This weekend, Saka turns 25, an age typically considered the peak years for footballers. While his status as an Arsenal champion is undeniable, the public reaction to Arsenal's summer transfer business suggests a shared belief that he could and should do more to reach "world-class" status.

Arteta is lacking a striker of that calibre. Throughout the summer, he assessed players of the stature of Vinicius and Alvarez to see whether they could bring the star power desperately needed to Arsenal's attacking trio.

Unable to sign a big-name striker, many believe that Arsenal's title defence will resemble their impressive but somewhat cautious 1-0 away victory over Villa.

A year ago, my assessment was that Arsenal's title dream would be built on the back of an excellent goalkeeper in Raya and centre-backs Saliba and Gabriel, and that assessment has proven correct.

In the PFA Team of the Year announced two weeks ago, not a single Arsenal player appeared among the five forwards selected. For Premier League champions, the absence of a forward is rare and suggests Arsenal are known for defensive solidity and fighting spirit rather than an explosive attack.

On Sunday, they will face Chelsea, which is entirely opposite to how these two teams were perceived in the Wenger versus Mourinho era; today, Arsenal are seen as pragmatic compared to Chelsea's entertainment.

Despite Chelsea's improvement, Arsenal are still expected to defend their title, and to win with a more aggressive attacking style, their most talented players need to play bigger roles.

Arteta has players like Martin Odegaard and Saka, who possess such capability. Arteta will particularly tell these two that they have even greater potential, and all signs suggest they are gradually realising this.

In their first two league victories, Arsenal showed potential to break free from the constraints of their current squad. With his decisive goal at Villa Park, Saka scored in consecutive league matches for the first time since November 2024 – a fact that surprised him when mentioned after the match.

Changing public perception of Saka's ability comes down entirely to statistics. Henry challenged him to contribute 15 goals and 15 assists this season, which speaks volumes. As Saka's mentor, Henry would never publicly set such a challenge unless he believed Saka could achieve it.

From this perspective, in the 38-game Premier League era, only three players have scored 15 goals and provided 15 assists in the same season: Henry, Hazard and Salah, who contributed 29 goals and 18 assists when he helped Liverpool win the title in the 2024-25 season.

Saka's most productive seasons at Arsenal were from 2022 to 2024, when his league goals and assists were 26 and 28 respectively. Last season, his goals and assists dropped to 14, having also declined in the season before that.

This shows Saka's career has stalled in recent years, with injury being a contributing factor. Two years ago, it was unthinkable that Saka, at his peak, would be left on the bench in England's World Cup semi-final.

But Tuchel's choice to start Morgan-Rogers ahead of Argentina was justified based on Rogers' form, though it was certainly painful and should serve as motivation to avoid repeating this in future international tournaments.

Since then, Saka has scored five goals for club and country – including a hat-trick in the third-place playoff against France – averaging one goal every 56 minutes. If he can maintain this form, he is on course for the most dangerous season of his career.

Criticising Arsenal for lacking a superstar in and out of the box is certainly a disrespect to Saka, who has made a massive contribution to the club. His goal against Villa was his 100th for club and country.

By any measure, this is a remarkable achievement for a player in his prime years. Some players are underrated because they become too familiar, and it would be a great loss for the team if he were not Arsenal's undisputed right-winger.

When we assess whether a player has reached world-class status, we tend to judge based on their current level rather than future potential, and truly reaching elite status is always a gradual process.

Even some of the greatest players in history were not world-class when they first joined their clubs. Think of Henry in that famous Arsenal squad – he was recognised as one of the greatest when his career progressed, not when he arrived.

Many superstars in the Premier League era at Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool had similar experiences.

De Bruyne and Salah developed into superstars at their respective clubs, but initially they could not make an impact at Chelsea. De Bruyne was 24 when he joined Manchester City, and Salah was 25 when he moved to Anfield.

Since Saka won the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2023, there has been an expectation that he would develop into one of the most formidable forwards in the world. It is not unusual for young players to hit a ceiling after their initial explosive period.

Saka has at least six more years to achieve his ambitious personal goals, and if these are met, it will completely change public perception of this Arsenal team.

Saka has every reason to ensure that he, not Palmer, is praised as England's most exciting young attacking talent of his generation.

Last season proved that, contrary to previous title-winning conventions, Arsenal do not need a superstar striker to end their trophy drought, with Gyökeres scoring 14 to become the team's leading league scorer.

To reach the next level and beat strong teams like Paris Saint-Germain in a Champions League final, Arteta needs more contributions in the final third, and he knows this well.

While significant investment has been made in defence and midfield this summer, it still feels that the defending champions' squad is incomplete, and Saka's performance could provide Arsenal fans at least one solution.

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