Why playing Arsenal's Bukayo Saka at left-back would be the final nail in England's Euro 2024 coffin

As a general rule of thumb, if you go through life without ever finding yourself in disagreement with Ian Wright, you are probably heading down the right path as a person. But just for once, it’s hard to stay in full alignment with the former Arsenal forward – playing Bukayo Saka as a left-back is surely not the answer to England’s Euros malaise.

“As great as Saka has done for England in terms of what he creates and his goals and assists, he is a natural left sided player," began Wright’s thesis on ITV. "He started playing for England on the left at youth level, he started at Arsenal on the left. If that’s going to give you the balance and gets you Cole Palmer in the team, it’s something you have to at least look at. "Yes, Kyle Walker can play there (at left-back), it’s the same situation where you have the player coming inside, you have no one going around. He’s a natural left-footer Saka, we could activate the whole left side."

Wright has absolutely identified one of England’s biggest issues, and one that was made plain once again during the dreary 0-0 draw with Slovenia. With Luke Shaw still unfit and Ben Chilwell mysteriously dropped before the pre-tournament training camp, England are stuck playing two right-footed players down the left and, as a consequence, have no natural width, no overlap, no crossing threat and no way to keep defences guessing. Half of the pitch is all but neutralised.

Kieran Trippier has defended sturdily so far in this tournament but precious little going forward, largely because he is far too one-footed. Every time he gets possession in the final third, he cuts back onto his right and plays a pass inside. He has no other option. As a result, he is completely predictable and preventing him from making a meaningful play is too easy for opposing defences – in three matches, he has generated a sum total of 0.12 expected goal’s worth of potential assists.

And with Phil Foden ahead of him, also a right-footed player who looks to come inside, the result is that every time the ball comes down the left, it comes inside. That allows defences to block off any avenues of attack with ease, because they can simply ignore the possibility of an overlap. There are no gaps for Foden to attack – and bringing Anthony Gordon in instead, as many fans and pundits have suggested, wouldn’t change that dynamic.

So Wright is bang on to call for a left-footed player to open that side of the field up, and he’s certainly correct that Saka began his career down that flank before being converted to play as an inside forward. He has even played as a left-back for England at age group level, although that was some time ago now. But there are two big flaws with the concept.

The first is that if you put Saka at left-back, you are removing him from the right wing, where he is a consistent threat. Gareth Southgate and Mikel Arteta didn’t both end up playing him there by coincidence, and it’s his play down the right that opened Serbia up for England’s first goal of the tournament and it’s the position he’s played in when named England’s men’s player of the year twice in a row. Jarrod Bowen and Cole Palmer are hardly incapable, but Saka has proven himself to be the best player in that role.

The other problem is that while Trippier offers little going forward, he has been good defensively and has contributed towards a defence which has allowed less xG than any other team in the group stage. For all that England have lacked drive and creativity going forward – and for all that they barely seem to go forward in the first place – they have been disciplined and defensively sound. What was assumed to be a weakness ahead of the tournament has become a strength, and while Saka would offer width and a forward-thinking threat, he would also inevitably dilute the back four and open England up.

So what is the solution, assuming that Shaw remains unavailable? Plainly the Trippier/Foden axis doesn’t work – so perhaps the answer is to look at the naturally left-footed attacking player England do have. Cole Palmer is not a natural left winger and has not played there for Chelsea, but did do so on occasion for Manchester City in the 2022/23 season and intermittently before that as he came through the youth ranks. In other words, he’s played on the left wing more recently than Saka has played left-back.

England have no end of raw talent, but the set-up right now lacks balance. Someone with a left foot has to come into the fold. That could be Shaw if he recovers in time for the last 16, but if not then the only serious options are Palmer and Saka, and moving Saka takes one of England’s strongest players and shifts them out of position where they may be less effective.

Palmer is immensely talented, inventive and versatile. He may not have spent too much time swinging crosses in from the byline but he could finally give defenders something to think about when it comes to guessing which way he’ll go. Saka as a wing-back is probably taking things a step too far (and it’s hard to envisage Southgate being quite so bold anyway) but something has to give. This version of England has finally fixed the defensive leaks only to become static and turgid up front – and if England line up the same way against their next opponents, it is asking for an early exit from the competition.