Thursday, March 28, 2024

Report: Nketiah on verge of new Arsenal deal

According to reports in the Daily Mail and The Athletic, Eddie Nketiah is on the verge of signing a new deal at Arsenal.

The striker, 22, had been heavily tipped to leave the club after voicing concern about a lack of playing time. However, after a run of eight consecutive starts at the tail end of the 21/22 campaign, which included five goals, he seems convinced he’ll continue to get the opportunities he always felt he deserved.

Nketiah burst onto the scene in 2017 during Arsene Wenger’s tenure, coming off the bench against Norwich in the League Cup to bag a match-winning brace. Only 18 at the time, he was immediately rewarded with a five-year deal.

Facing stiff competition for minutes from the likes of Olivier Giroud, Danny Welbeck, Alexis Sanchez, Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and unable to grab the attention of Unai Emery, the attacker subsequently struggled to make his mark at Emirates Stadium.

Mikel Arteta was quick to reintegrate the striker off the back of a six-month loan spell at Leeds United but despite raving about the player’s quality and commitment he has, until recently, been reticent to start him in the Premier League.

Nketiah’s record of 23 goals in 92 appearances for the Gunners is nothing to be sniffed, especially at his age. And when you consider the 5 goals in 19 appearances at Elland Road and his record-breaking exploits for England’s under 21s (16 goals in 17 appearances) it’s clear he knows where the goal is.

There is still plenty of room for improvement – had he put away a couple of chances off the bench earlier in the season we might be playing Champions League football – but the potential is there and his staying will alleviate the pressure to bring in an entirely new strike force.

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Cygan's barber

Lans

Goonerrific

Jehmen?

JCNY

bury?

Qwaliteee

Great isn’t it?!

Reach for your comfy Wenger cardigans and your bottles of Evian, folks!

LANS. 😊

Lord Bendnter

Agna?

(I’m not good at speling)

President Eckener

“I LOVE lansagna, but I HATE Thursdays.”
-Grafeild (copyright Jim Dawis)

Ozzie

underland?

Bleeding gums murphy

Loads of reports now saying we have given Eddie nketia a 5 year contract on 100 thousand a week. Let that sink in. We moved lots of players on to create money and give an average player 100 fucking grand a week. 😫😫😫

Tomaury Bischfeld

It’s absolutely mental. This is on the basis of a recent good patch but he hasn’t proven himself consistently. If you consider what we would have to pay to replace him, obviously some of that has passed in to his contract. However it really doesn’t sit right with me that someone with only modest accomplishments like Eddie will be paid 100k a week, It will obviously upset the wage structure but it also sets the bad example that if you hold the club over a barrel you get rewarded. We might also struggle to get rid of him if he… Read more »

Bleeding gums murphy

It appears we don’t learn. Palace and West Ham only clubs interested in taking him on a free and I would mr last pound there is no way on gods earth they would have paid him 100 grand a week. They were in cos it was free and probably on that basis give him 60 grand. Which he hasn’t no where near proved he is worth. Our club is so poorly run.

Bleeding gums murphy

Release the hounds 😂
we can talk again in the new season. I desperately hope I am so completely wrong.

Mayor McCheese

It’s unconfirmed, so I’d wait and see about that. I’d be surprised if it was 100K.

Goonsquad

We have also secured an appreciating asset that was about to walk out the door for nothing. Hopefully he’ll continue to improve but if things don’t work out, there’ll be plenty of takers.

Bleeding gums murphy

Of course there won’t. If he doesn’t improve you think anyone will want to pay his wages. You sure you are not a board member 🤓😜

BillyKrystal

Very interesting, will this limit us to one striker? If they’re planning to buy 2 then not sure how they can give Eddie assurances. Or maybe now 1 striker, 1 wide attacker who can play in middle?

Nate

We will need to probably replace both Laca and Pepe still.

BillyKrystal

Good point, now if there are any takers for Pepe is another question. Hope he finds a club, he’s in a pretty bad situation.

Goonerrific

Everton anyone?

The Arsenal

Reiss Nelson is returning.

Flash

We can see him in action today evening!
Good luck to him!

Jules

We were linked to Gnabry today by Christian Falk who is hella reliable. Gnabry would be the perfect signing imo, a goal scoring wide forward who can play either wing and has arsenal in his blood. A front three of Gnabry, Jesus and saka with martinelli, esr and this rejuvenated Eddie pushing them sounds pretty good to me. Replacing Pepe with Gnabry would be some properly solid business

Jakeus

The only issue – as Falk pointed out; the lack of Champions League revenue means we would need to wait until next summer, but Bayern is likely to encourage him out the door now rather than lose him for nothing.

Would love to pursue a deal for him though, hope we can make that happen

Jasonissimo

We should remain patient and gnab him for nothing. It would be fitting.

Capt_Surcouf

1-year loan fee of 3 schnitzels and an obligation to buy for another 10

Jeremy DG

Also, Gnabry loves a goal against sp*rs

Flash

Or…
4-3-3 with Partey in the middle
Gnabry and Odegaard in front of him
Up front: Martinelli, Jesus, Saka

Graham

Gnabry is the most forwardy forward of all the forwards. He would be a forward.

Saka in midfield biiiiiitch

Hoffsstuntdouble

And Gnabry has an awesome ‘tache…

Mayor McCheese

I think the plan is probably to get two more. Eddie signing a new contract means we have depth and options, and that we won’t have to rely on Balogun (who probably needs another loan next season) as second or third choice.

Guns Up

Agreed. I see it more as Eddie being the “internal solution” to replacing Lacazette. New signing fills the Aubameyang void. If the above mentioned Gnabry rumor amounts to something, I’d be pretty damn excited.

Shano

Arsenal have 150 to spend supposedly so I see this as good business.
I don’t see the gnabry rumour- if he’s right sided he’s backup to saka and cant see that. Feels like left side is between smith Rowe and martinelli

Greg in Seatte

Smith-Rowe has work to do.

Graham

I think Gnabry could play on the left.
Honestly though I think Saka would be better in midfield.

Ramsdale
Tomiyasu White Gabriel Tierney
Partey
Odegaard Saka
Gnabry Jesus Martinelli

Ong

I am just happy you do not own any business.
Even if he was a new “signing”
Paying 100k for a backup is pretty silly

Public Elneny

If the new signing is the Auba replacement, I would be dissapointed if it’s Gabriel Jesus. Spends a lot of his efforts dropping wide and deep. I think he’s roughly on the same level Laca was a couple of years ago – pretty decent but not the kind of striker opponents fear, and we’d just be looking to upgrade in a window or two after already spending quite a lot on him

Fingers crossed for Osimhen

A Different George

To be fair, he plays in a system where every attacking player moves wide, drops deep, and (with a handful of exceptions like Mahrez) plays on either side.

Public Elneny

Perhaps, but how do we know how much of that is Pep’s tactics and how much is that his natural playing style (if there is even a difference between the two after 5 years being coached into Pep’s system). I’d rather sign a striker who’s demonstrated they can be more of a menace through the middle.

Like you wouldn’t sign Nick Pope hoping for a sweeper keeper comfortable building out of the back, on the basis that he hasn’t been allowed to be that keeper Sean Dyche

Do you know how he plays for Brazil?

Graham

I think for Pep’s system to be effective (and by extension Arteta’s) you need constant rotation and movement to be able to open up the opposition. If the striker is wide or deep you need other players to take up that space. We haven’t really seen it yet at Arsenal with play being quite rigid. I think this will improve as the players improve and as we get better players.

wkl

what do u expect when u r not in UCL, can u sign numez type of strikers? u can’t

wkl

Osimnen….. u have to wait long long. look at how much they bought him in plus profit to make. u think we can afford that? still need fund for a CM, wide attacker, fullback or even a left CB

BillyKrystal

Makes perfect sense to me. I guess Eddie’s backing himself to work himself into 2nd striker spot regardless of who we bring in. It sure seems like we’ll go into next season with him as 3rd choice. If that’s the case I think that’s great, it means he’s ready to fight for his place and we may see the best of him yet.

Bleeding gums murphy

If he’s third choice I think that’s great business. If he’s second choice I would dread the 1st choice getting injured. Hopefully he can improve but I’m far from overly impressed. I wish sometimes I could be more fickle and change my mind completely after a couple of goals.

Graham

Sorry but since Eddie’s come in his overall game has been fantastic. His scoring rate is also excellent and crucially his xG is close to his actual goals. Auba was massively outperforming his xG which meant that a slight dip in form saw his numbers crash.

Bleeding gums murphy

Fantastic 😂😂

Funsho Patrick

Buy one and another that can play across the attack…not necessarily a specialist

JCNY

My guess is that now we will get 1 marquee first team striker (as opposed to two) and maybe 1 young striker for the future.

All in all, this is not the worst outcome. Eddie did put in some promising performances and we are not in the Champions League next year. Plus, having a home-grown player will be useful for squad registration purposes.

Bleeding gums murphy

I’m hearing it’s £100 grand a week 5 year contract. Terrible business if true but then we have form for giving mental contracts.

Tommy Gunner

That would be utter madness, but I don’t believe for one minute we will give him £100k p/w

Bleeding gums murphy

It gets worse Sami mokbel reporting 100 grand with 5 million in bonuses spread across 5 year contract. It’s beyond mental. WTF

Vaibhav

Sadly he is not good enough, maybe for Europa and domestic cups, certainly not for PL.

Peter Bentner

Scored more than Auba or Lacca did and he did it in eight games.

Bleeding gums murphy

Yep your right, that’s such a valid point. Can’t believe I didn’t see it. We have a bargain at 100 grand a week for a player that only Crystal Palace and West Ham were interested in taking on a free. Cheese and bread as my old dad use to say. 😂

A.P.

And then buying out his contract one season later.

Clock End 20

I think this is great news. Eddie’s shown real potential over the past 2-3 months, and actually started scoring for the first team as well. He’s become a pretty dependable striker for us.

Think we still need 2 more in the squad given all the games we’ll have next season.

Walter White

Good news for Arsenal!
Nketiah has huge potential and will provide competition to whoever is signed as the new CF (and we don’t need to sign two).

And should it not work out like we all want, we can at the very least get some decent money for him, instead of seeing him leave on a free.

Great one by Mikel.
Time to shine Nketiah!

Bill Hall

No problem him staying as long as he carries on making the effort he has done last two/three months. There is always room for a *fox in the box* style striker in the team.
Having said that we still need a world class striker as well, we can’t just rely on Eddie and Gabi.

Qwaliteee

I think Arteta has had one of his Trust The Process chats with young Edward.

It’s beginning to become apparent that Arteta is – if nothing else – a very good salesman; any top drawer manager has to be able to sell a rebuilding project to players who might otherwise want out.

If Eddie signs then congrats are due to the manager. A shrewd bit of business if it happens. 👍

Db412

I didn’t think he has the ability to play on his own up front but delighted to say he’s proven me wrong and scored/not put a foot wrong against some of the best teams (and Man Utd) so really hope he signs and look forward to see how much more he can improve next season.🥳

Db412

Is a bit weird how Arteta keeps ‘stumbling’ into discovering our Hale end gems. Same happened with ESR. Needs to have more faith!

Jules

Yeah gotta say, i have been calling for Eddie to be sold for a while now – nothing against him, just didn’t think he had what it takes and thought we should cash in. Thought he was too much of a poacher without much else to back it up, and will confess that even recently i thought that this “purple patch” wasn’t enough to get him to sign, but he really does seem like a different striker. He seems way quicker than before, much more comfortable dribbling and making false runs, he was pressing really well and every time he… Read more »

Hank Scorpio

A lot of people doubted him but the reality is that a) he is young, b) he mainly played in patchwork Europa League and domestic cup teams that typically lacked cohesion, and c) We have been struggling to create chances for our strikers as a common theme during Arteta’s tenure. We really couldn’t see the best of him to make a judgement. We’re playing with a bit more cohesion these days so a few more chances are coming his way and he has benefitted from an extended run in the team also. I’d be comfortable having him as a number… Read more »

Prakhar

A promising U23 English striker not leaving for free anymore. Great news.
One wide forward and one central forward still needed for first eleven.

Qwaliteee

Well this really is very good news, let’s hope the lad signs. I think, given what we’ve seen in the latter spell of this season from him, that he can continue to develop and become a very potent goal scoring force. We will, of course, still require a top drawer striker signing – and I’m sure that if Arteta will have made it clear to Eddie that he will still play a big important role in a far busier programme next season. A very very good signing for the club – if it goes through. A thumbs up from me.… Read more »

El Mintero

Squad player level talent. No more no less. We still need 2 top quality strikers to replace Auba and Laca. FACT.

Kinghenrythe14th

I think he’s a good squad player for rotation and to throw on whilst chasing a game. He’ll either force himself into the 1st team or land us a nice profit when he eventually leaves

Eric Blair

Not so sure about the profit. Assuming he’s got a nice pay raise (he was about to leave on a Bosman remember) if things don’t go well we could be stuck without a buyer matching his wages. We’ve been there more than once. I hope it does work out, but I have to say I am a little sceptical. I guess he’s staying because he’s had reassurances about playing time which means he’ll probably be 2nd choice striker next season. That’s a lot of responsibility if we want to be as successful as we imagine we can be. As I… Read more »

Sheldon

Not upgrading on Eddie and Elneny is a consequence of not making top4. Europa league level players.

Group Captain Mandrake

Again with this? Do you think this is Man City where they can afford to have top level players sitting on the bench all season? Elneny is fine for what he is – a back up that can come in and play for a string of games at a pretty good level. And I’d say that Nketiah showed some pretty promising play at the end of the season. Is he a top drawer starter? No, but most teams have young, improving players as backups, and he is still only 22. Plenty of time to get even better.

baz00r

You can still strengthen while retaining existing players. Remember last season we weren’t in Europe at all. For us to lose players like Nketiah and Elneny this season, we not only need to replace them for depth, but find the extra players to strengthen our first eleven. It makes sense to lock these guys down for another season or two. Plenty of football to be played next season.

El Mintero

True dat. Don’t think we would have done the Eddie deal if we had qualified for CL. He’s just not at that level.

Eddie is a squad player no more than that. Fine if he’s ok with that now but lack of real interest from other clubs show his true worth. He will never be our starting striker nor should he be.

Jasonissimo

This contract would mean at least one more season in Europa League for him, I would guess, and a back up role in the league. I also presume Lacazette will not receive a new offer. Furthermore, Balogun will be allowed another loan spell, either from the start of the season or starting in January following the conclusion of EL group stage.

I like this development because it retains a decent back up player with potential for improvement, which in turn allows focus to remain on our pursuit of a #9.

Naked Cygan

He still has a lot to learn, but during the last 10 games he was like a different player. He need games and hopefully he will get them and improve to be a solid striker for us. He needs to show that hunger on a regular basis.

El Mintero

He’s not, and never will be, our main striker. He might get a run in the Europa league but that will be it. Phillipe auclair on the pod this week nailed it about Eddie. Also his comments about Martinelli down the middle instead were spot on.

matt keeler

Happy with this news.
Now if we can get Jesus over the line that will be great.
Sell Pepe and make that replacement, and we will be considerably stronger than last season in the attacking positions.

Qwaliteee

Plus we have Balogun. I would maybe loan him out for another half season to a full season, depending on the amount of striker business we do.

He could be next season’s ‘Eddie’ in the closing stages or from January onwards.

He is the one who I reckon could save us an absolute fortune in the transfer market. Let’s hope so

Man Manny

I always knew the plan was for one striker. Integrating two new strikers in one season is dicey.
Good move by the club so far.
Saliba, Mo and now Nketiah
It saves money for a top striker, central midfielder a LB, RB and maybe, another left sided attacker (Marquinhos maybe).

chepetin

Yes, I think your ‘saving money’ point is a good one. We need both quality and quantity at this point. Maybe part of the thinking was that if we let Eddie go, we would need to allocate some of the budget to replace him, and by extending him we can direct those funds to a striker or to fill one of the other gaps.

karlic

I hope we don’t spend big on Jesus with Eddie staying. They are very similar types of player and we need something different and more goals too.

DB10

I think he’s a good player to have in the squad but the header against Everton where he hit the post.. It still haunts me! Not only would we be in the CL but they’d also be down!

Man Manny

That game was in December for God’s sake! After that, we threw away 3 points against City (Liverpool would be champions and we would be in CL too).

Do Lacazette’s many fumbles haunt you too?
I believe that if Nketiah had all the game time given Laca, we’d be in CL.

karlic

You can’t base a season on one mistake. There were many more examples all the way through and most were from referees and not Eddie!

Jake

Laca against burnley is another you could bring up.

Charlz

Laca all season. Cost us the UCL.

ArsenesLongSufferingZipper

Also, 3 points out of a possible 9 from the games against Brighton, Palace & Southampton and we would have been in the CL. 3 points from our first 3 matches and we would have been in the CL. 3 points against Newcastle…
But yeah, go ahead and make the kid a scapegoat for our season.

Pastor Simon

If only my opinion matters.
Nketiah should not be given a new contract.

karlic

if we have to spend on 2 strikers, there will be a lot less money for any other signings. Eddie likes the club and certainly is good enough to take a place in the squad.

who knows what his potential is now he has been playing a few games.

Qwaliteee

Well, Pastor, if you’d just like pass the collection tray around, maybe you can rustle up enough change to finance two strikers….?

Jomo

Arsenal will be playing two or three games a week. Eddie Nketiah will get game time. The more games he played the better for him to gain experience.

C.B.

5 goals in the last 8 matches of the season when he was starting is pretty decent. If he keeps that up (or improves, he is still very young) then he’ll have been worth keeping.

Fatgooner

A new contract for Nketiah would be bad for both the player and Arsenal. There’s actually a decent striker in there trying to get out, but he needs games – lots of games. We will probably sign a couple of strikers this summer and that will mean Nketiah will be relegated again to number 3. That means yet another season of him coming off the bench for 10 or 15 minutes here and there. And he’ll get the odd League Cup and Europa League game. That’s no good for his development. Eddie should leave and sign up with a decent… Read more »

Gunteta

Strikers cost a premium and this move was probably to reduce the cost outlay on two strikers. We still need to spend to get a central midfielder and fullback in at a minimum so that could be reason.

Eric Blair

Wow, I mostly agree there, some great points!

Perhaps this is just a marriage of convenience? Maybe he didn’t get any great offers and maybe we need to save money for the main striker and other positions. Does have the potential to go sour for sure.

Qwaliteee

Mate, have a look at his figures in the closing stages of this season.

Then use that as a barometer for a full season.

He knows where the back of the net is. 😉

Fatgooner

Mate, have a look at his figures for the entire season.

Charles Charlie Charles

Did Arteta play him for a full season? If not, why are you judging his performance in front of goal based on non appearances? It’s a bit like judging your posts for intelligence based upon the amount of thought you engaged in before posting them.

PB70

So – you’re upset he is only ‘average’, yet you’re upset he won’t get enough playing time to improve since he is ‘decent’, and you’re upset that if he did get more playing time at another club he would develop in to an even better player?

Your word salad to be as negative as possible is impressive. .I thought it was only after we lost a game, apparently not.

Fatgooner

I said there was a decent player in there. Not yet out

Ray's ice cream Parlour

I’m so glad our fans are no where near the decision making when it comes to players in and out… Have a good summer to you all !!!

PB70

Fatgooner will take over all transfers this summer. Based on his amazing analytical skills, his plan is simple and will prove to be successful. It will show real ambition, unlike the shambles that is, AFC:

Bestest players ever – Sign
Not the bestest players ever – sell/let go/do not sign

That is 4 trophies in the bag next season. Nothing less will do.

Qwaliteee

Fats has got it all worked out.

He’s going to storm the Arsenal Board Room, pin Stan and Josh to the wall, produce a megaphone and blast COUGH UP YOU CUNTS until they both relent, get on the phones and start signing Salah, usurping Haarland’s deal to City, usurping M’bappe’s new deal at PSG and cementing deals for Neymar, De Bruyne, Mount and Grealish.

Job done, eh Fats? 😂

Giuseppe Hovno

This is excellent news

Mark Hazelwood

Zero risk if we can sell him next summer for enough to cover a year’s wages. Say 6 million?

Eric Blair

Could have said the same about Özil or Auba in the same situation, but they didn’t turn out too great.

If he’s on 100k a week as suggested and has a poor season next year don’t bank on being able to sell him easily.

Ealing

On three times the wages and over 30 years of age. Finance requires good grasp of maths. Comparing the investment in Eddie with the outlay on Ozil and Auba doesn’t make sense.

Ealing

This makes financial sense. He really needs to flop next season for us to get less than £6M.

Teryima Adi

Sign da ting!

Pete Plum

Hope he stays. He’s a different player to how I used to think of him. He seems to have filled out a lot and is much more of a physical presense than before. Coupled with his recent run and dearth of other strikers, I’d like to see what more he can do

Gabigol

Signing him up is good news for the academy, and also gives us wiggle room in the homegrown quota. I assume so we can purchase more Brazilians.

Gabigol

If he gets some decent weight put on then hopefully he can improve his toughness on receiving the ball a lot more without reducing his acceleration by too much.

his awareness of colleagues around him should naturally improve as he gets more minutes with them and as he releases the ball quicker/more timely, we should see him play those balls around the corner or understand how to press more efficiently.

Ray from Norfolk, Virginia

The deal makes sense. Eddie (and Mo) are needed because we have more games to play. I am more worried about the plethora of players that we need to find paying suitors for, like Torreira, Mari, Bellerin, Maitland-Niles, Nelson, and others. Blogs, I apologize for asking an unrelated question, but I am really unhappy with Eddie Howe and his late / recent interview about the Newcastle versus Arsenal game, whereby he almost implies that the Saudi state gave him the recipe to beat us. We were very passive in the winter transfer window, allowing Conte to buy two good level… Read more »

Ray from Norfolk, Virginia

Time for a f*ck Boris Johnson thread, in light of how this greedy insensitive idiot pushed for the Saudi acquisition of Newcastle.

Kedah Gooner

Signing Nketiah on a multiple-years deal would allow for some bargaining ability on our part when purchasing other top quality strikers (due to already having one), ensure his value is retained (when and should we decide to sell) and for us to benefit from the progression he’s shown since given his chances, potentially as starting striker and at least on rotation duty in the Europa League, something Eddie’s unlikely to get anywhere else other than with us. A win-win deal.

JerryJay

This is a shrewd business for Arsenal, Nketiah has a massive potential and he is on the upward trajectory, he has improved a lot with a decent run of games in the team.
No one would have thought Harry Kane would be this good before he scored about 21 goals the season he was made the top striker for Tottenham.
Osimhen should be bought at all cost instead of Jesus, he fits perfectly into the system Arteta wants to play..

Siserio

Osimhen or Abraham will do it for me.We need strikers with arial presence and good finishing ability.

Stan

Am I missing something which says this isn’t a sensible bit of business? He’s currently an asset worth £0 due to his (soon to be) expired contract. We let him go for nothing, meaning we we replace him with another back up striker, which we will need based on our game numbers next season. So let’s say we found a decent experienced striker who can just walk in and start playing when needed. Best case is that’s £10m. We squeeze that new player to £65k per week. That’s £3.38m in the first year. Total outlay, £13.38m and that’s being super… Read more »

HotAir

You’re being too logical for this site! Yes this is a good deal for the reasons you’ve said. Not sure why some people are scratching their heads so much, or blogs complaining about him missing the odd chance coming on at the end of matches earlier in the season- seems like old opinions die hard. Arteta should have given him a chance to start earlier in the season and we may have qualified for CL given what happened when he did! Why isn’t that the hypothetical???

Brady’s bunch

I’m reminded of the Iwobi and willock situations where there was the debate for not selling them but the club were proved right. Eddie and AMN are of a similar quality to those players and probably only reasonable squad players at best.

RockyRog58

If Eddie was at another club & we were looking to buy him I’m fairly sure the Gooners fans would be saying but him ! He scores he’s getting better & who the fuck could we buy with his potential ability & goalscoring abilities without spending a shitload ? We can’t judge him against Henry V Persie Sanchez et all His form.given a run of games at season’s end was excellent & he got better the more he played & was forming an understanding with the lads around him I’m glad he will stay !

RockyRog58

Butting him was never an option but buying him is a plan !

Yak

Looking at the amounts Liverpool secured for the likes of Rhian Brewster and Jordan Ibe who had way less experience and inferior goal stats, I think it’s fair to assume we would be able to move Nketiah on if things don’t work out.

Ong

You forgot that Arsenal is not liverpool

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