Is it bye bey Eddie?
The long running Eddie Nketiah story is again in the headlines as the player is reported to be reluctant to extend his stay in North London. The England Under 21s record goal scorer feels he need to be playing regularly and at 23 by the end of this season I have some sympathy for him.
However, the irony is that Arsenal after years of not doing so are actually playing 2 central strikers, albeit it with one (Lacazette) being slightly withdrawn and I have always felt that Nketiah needed to play with a partner. Previously, and I am mot comparing ability, here I felt he was a victim of the club moving to a sole striker system, much as Eduardo was when he came back from his long injury lay off in 2009.
Eduardo needed a partner in 442
Nketiah, like Eduardo was, is a penalty box poacher, and an instinctive finisher of the highest order, and need to be utilised close to goal. In that sense he is a more natural understudy to the current Aubameyang role than the inexperienced Balogun. Like his skipper, young Eddie struggles to impose his natural style when being asked to drop and link play, something that comes naturally to Alexandre Lacazette.
With Balogun making noises about wanting a loan in January and with Lacazette, also not being offered or indeed wanting a new deal, Eddie Nketiah might well as things stand be afforded considerable minutes in the second half of the campaign, but can the club allow him to leave for free in June, when he is obviously a far more sellable asset at 22 now than his senior French teammate. Can Arsenal even consider leaving this until the spring to resolve when our attention will be more on cricket betting sites than football transfers?
Sadly, with reported interest from Arsenal Legend Patrick Vieira at Crystal Palace and Borussia Mönchengladbach, I think Arsenal will look to sell the player in January rather than allow him to leave for free in June. Particularly as Alex Lacazette, who can also leave for nothing is a current starter for Arteta.
Starred v Leeds in League Cup
The manager, after Nketiah starred against Leeds, spoke very highly of his striker and about the unresolved contract situation:
‘It’s more and more common in football with where we are coming from with COVID and a lot of the issues that we have to resolve. I have full belief that he’s going to be a top, top player and hopefully at Arsenal.
‘I’m so happy to have him in the team. He’s our player and I consider him and regard him really highly. From my side I want him to stay.’
Despite the public support from Arteta, Arsenal are also closely linked to Fiorentina striker, Dusan Vlahovic, and these are now persistent rumours and it seems Nketiah has heard enough. He and his agent obviously believe that Arsenal probably only want him to extend to increase his value in the summer and have called their bluff. Hence the need to sell him in January of face another egg on their face situation, with another player leaving for nothing or very little.
It is a shame as I think he has much to offer, and I am sure that Arsenal might look at sell on or even buyback clauses when they sell him, particularly if it is to old boy Vieira.
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It’s a conundrum for sure especially regarding the ACoN as that’s the period when Eddie could and should get in some serious minutes on the pitch with Aubameyang and Pepe absent for several weeks and no guarantee anyway that they’ll return to North London fit…
We’ve been here before with young players, Reiss Nelson for example was all set to leave, most of us had accepted his departure and then at the 11th hour he extended his contract and went on loan to Germany, Bakayo Saka could have walked away the summer before last but he also re-signed and aren’t we all glad that he did.
Then last summer we could have suffered a double whammy and seen both Flo Balogun and Taylor Hart walk away and leave but just when it seemed that all hope was gone they both re-signed.
It’s a bit of a pattern and whilst it does seem likely given his age that Nketiah will leave there’s always a chance that he could get a bit of a run in the team, score a few goals and as with Maitland Niles have a change of heart.
Let’s wait and see then.
sadly AMN’s change of heart has not worked for him.He got his chance a month or so ago was excellent and has not played first team since. Martinelli has only really got his latest chance through Auba’s disciplinary issues. Salliba, Mavpranos, Nelson seem to me to be other young players that are worthy of a chance but are out on a limb.Before we go spending should these potential gems be ignored.