Bukayo Saka insists he’s ‘ready to go’ after battling Achilles issue at World Cup

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The Independent

9 July 2026

Bukayo Saka has declared himself "ready to go" for

England's World Cup quarter-final

against

Norway

, despite continuing to manage an Achilles problem that has hampered his tournament.

The

Arsenal

winger arrived in the US still feeling the effects of an injury sustained in March, leading to limited game time and no full 90-minute appearances so far.

While he started against Panama and

Mexico

, and came off the bench in other fixtures, Saka confirmed he is now "feeling great".

He acknowledged the initial challenge: "Of course, I would have loved to come to this tournament 100 per cent, but that wasn’t the case and everyone’s realised that. They’ve managed me in the best way possible. But right now, I’m feeling great and I’m ready to go."

Saka feels he's 'ready to go' (Getty)

Saka, who would typically be a fixture in his manager's starting line-up, described his

World Cup

experience as "unique".

He added: "Each game has been unique for me, but my mindset doesn’t really change much. Whether I come on or I start, I just try and do what the game needs, whether it needs a goal, whether it needs the team to defend, whatever it needs. I’s about winning. That’s my mindset."

The 24-year-old played a crucial role in England's thrilling 3-2 victory over

, setting up Jude Bellingham's opening goal before being substituted as the team held on with 10 men. Looking ahead, Saka stressed the need to move on from that dramatic win.

"We discussed that we need to put the drama and the emotions of the

game behind now,” he said.

“We soaked in all the praise and everything that came a bit, but now we need to focus on

, which is going to be another tough challenge, a different challenge. We’re fully focused and I’m positive that we’ll win."

Saka will hope to keep his starting spot against

this weekend after seemingly moving ahead of Noni Madueke in the pecking order.

Thomas Tuchel appears unlikely to make many changes to his line-up, but must make at least one alteration due to Jarell Quansah serving a two-match ban following his red card against

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