The next Saka has already agreed to sign with Arsenal.

As Arsenal players accepted their winners’ medals and walked over to lift the Premier League trophy, no one had a bigger smile on their face than Bukayo Saka.

Saka wasn’t too upset. He usually has a beaming smile on his face, but he has been through good times and bad with Mikel Arteta.

He’s been there since the start, but it doesn’t feel like that long ago since the winger posted on social media collapsing on the grass and promising supporters he’d be better received.

Now, Saka has fulfilled the promise of better times to come. He recreated the photo and post from years ago, but this time he stared at his boots instead of turning his head towards the grass. This time he was staring at English football’s biggest prize.

His journey from the days of Unai Emery to today is nothing short of amazing.

Saka’s difficult season ends gloriously

The signing of Noni Maduke last summer gave Saka some much-needed competition.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Hale Ender has found its footing in recent years. He is the poster boy for the project and the person the team turns to when things don’t go well. But he has been given too much credit.

Arsenal, and indeed Saka, paid the price when the Englishman suffered a severe hamstring injury midway through the 2024-25 season.

Since then, he has definitely been working on getting his speed back and was again hit by injuries in 2025/26, ending the domestic season with just seven goals and seven assists in the league. Of course, these aren’t bad numbers, but they fall well short of the type of output you’d expect from one of the best wingers in the game.

But when it mattered most, Saka came back to life near the end of the season.

After the Carabao Cup final, he missed a series of matches due to an Achilles tendon problem, including the defeat against City, but returned to the starting lineup in the 3-0 win over Fulham.

He only played the first 45 minutes, but his impact was devastating, not only assisting Victor Gokeres’ opener but also scoring a goal himself. Saka returned to his best form and followed it up by scoring the only goal in the Champions League semi-final second leg.

It was the academy graduate’s best moment of the season, but a week ago today he also provided a crucial assist for the only goal of the game in the win over Burnley. That was the moment that ultimately won them the league championship.

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

Arsenal continue to chip away at the Championship to find players of similar quality and consistency. Fortunately, long before winning the title, Andrea Berta was able to secure another Saka-like one.

Arsenal’s new squad could help them win future titles

Arsenal’s biggest priority this summer is simply signing a new left winger. Aleta’s team didn’t have many holes, but there were certainly problems in that side.

Gabriel Martinelli has scored once in the league all season, with an important goal against Manchester City, but Leandro Trossard had failed to score in 25 consecutive games until his goal against West Ham a few weeks ago. This was a dismal record for two previously important players.

This explains his links with several wide players, particularly Anthony Gordon and Bradley Barcola. But what if Arsenal had already signed a very exciting winger?

They may not be complete left-back forwards, but in December the club confirmed they had agreed a deal to acquire Ecuadorian twins Holger and Edwin Quintero from Independiente del Valle.

Don’t you know the importance of these two signatures? Independiente has one of the best youth systems in world football. They produced PSG’s William Paccio, Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo and Arsenal’s Piero Hincapie.

Now it looks like the Quintero twins will be the next rank of taxis. They are also very excited. Holger is an attacking midfielder by trade, while Edwin is a winger who boasts similar qualities to the aforementioned Saka.

Both players, currently just 16 years old, are not expected to officially join the Gunners until the summer of 2027, when they can sign professional contracts.

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

Perhaps the Gunners should be most excited about Edwin Quintero. In January 2025, scout Jacek Kulig outlined a group of young players with 10/10 potential, and that list included not only Edwin but also Max Dauman. This just goes to show how special this young South American is.

So what is he all about? In the words of Como scout Ben Mattinson, the left-footed right winger “has the ability to move the game and create something out of nothing”. It definitely looks like a shark.

Kulig also described him as having “excellent” technique, ball control and “amazing” agility, and like Saka, he has an incredibly low center of gravity. Many of his characteristics already match incredibly well with Arsenal’s number seven.

Quintero has yet to play in the first team, but many who follow academy football suggest he is an outstanding talent and could break into Arsenal’s first team in a few years’ time, slotting in on Saka’s right flank. How exciting would that be?