Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes Bukayo Saka has matured into one of his team's leaders.

The Gunners boss deployed a teenaged Saka as a makeshift left-back in his first game as Gunners head coach in 2019 but the 23-year-old has subsequently blossomed as a right-winger, with only Mohamed Salah having a hand in more Premier League goals this season.

Asked at his press conference on Tuesday if he anticipated the transformation watching his first game in charge, away to Bournemouth, Arteta said: "That day, no!

"I think day by day I started to understand him and see the skill-set and the relationships he could generate in the team and I was convinced that long-term and medium-term left-back wasn’t his position.

"The team needed a different kind of threat and creativity and he could provide those moments.

"We moved him first to the left, then to the right, and then we started to see naturally that it was a position he was more comfortable in, so we were consistent."

He added: “You can tell from the way he presents himself, the way he talks, the decisions he makes, that he has a massive role in the team.

“He’s the main figure with two or three players at the club. He plays for the national team.

"He is very established right now and he is deciding football matches for us, so he has earned the right to act and be that way. But at the same time he is still so humble and charming to everybody.”