Mikel Arteta has named Eddie Nketiah as the player who could take Arsenal to the next level.
The forward spent the first-half of the season on-loan with Leeds in the Championship, but failed to break into the club’s first-team plans, with Patrick Bamford regularly chosen ahead of him.
Since returning to Arsenal in January however, the youngster has thoroughly impressed, and coach Arteta claims that he was sure after watching Nketiah train that he would be a big player.
“We treat Eddie as an important part of our squad,” the Gunners boss said in a press conference as quoted by the Mirror..
“We had to make an important decision not to let him go on loan again after the spell he had at Leeds.
“I watched him train and I was very convinced he was the right player for us to move us to the next level, that he can contribute in a big way to the way we want to play.
“He has been fantastic so far.”
It still amazes me that Leeds couldn’t find enough minutes for Nketiah, considering the obvious talent that he has shown already in his short time back at the club this term.
Unai Emery maybe should have looked to give Nketiah more minutes this season instead of sending him out on loan, but while we have options in the attacking roles, letting him join a club where he wasn’t guaranteed first-team football was surely pointless.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, but it is nice to see that we have a manager that isn’t just willing, but is able to see the talent that he has available to him, and Nketiah has certainly shown he is more than up to the job.
Could Eddie be our long-term replacement for Aubameyang? Could he and Martinelli become interchangeable up front for Arsenal in the way that Rashford and Martial play for Man United?
Patrick
Assuming Auba does leave us, it’ll be unfair to expect Eddie and Martinelli to fill that hole, that massive hole!! Yes, I’ve been very impressed with them both, but can they bang in the goals week in, week out like Auba?? Hmm, I’m not so sure.
OT.. I’ve just seen Sterling hasn’t scored in his last 12 games for City……. we just love ending a goal drought…..
Let’s hope he doesn’t makes up & score 3 next game…:)
🙏😄
If Auba and Laca are there, it is hard to make space for Martinelli and Nketia, same goes for Nelson with Pepe , some would wonder why he didn’t stay in Germany, emulating Sancho there.
Saka is our best winger, Arteta must logically play him ahead of anyone on LW.
He plays 433, 2 spots left for Auba, Laca, Pepe, Gaby, Nelson, Nketiah. That’s 6 players. Who do you play & bench?
If Auba Leaves, than laca should be the man to lead the line. In future , it is interesting to see how Arteta accommodates Eddie and Martinelli and also Saka. We have Pepe and Nelson also.
Sunny
Auba and lacas style are very different as strikers but ya as the experienced guy in the squad laca will have to lead the line if auba leaves
I don’t think this was a waste of time,he trained under a very experienced manager respected by Pep,MA,Poch…if you asked Eddie he’d tell you that he learnt a lot in a short space of time,the only negative being the lack of playing time!
I think arsena should allow Auba to leave, they caused it by allowing the contact to run till now,he is 31 and he want to win some trophies which I think arsenal isnt ready to offer….
Secondly as an arsenal fan I want arsenal to sell him ,instead of replacing him we should just go get partey and a very good No 10 that can give good passes and control the midfield, Cazorla was the last we had,we have 3 young and talented players that can replace Auba ,the likes of Saka,Martineli and Nelson… with Laca and Edie,the goals will come
….. we’ve won games some years ago with defenders like Djourou and the rest, and strikers like Chamak,Sanogo… which I believe our current defenders and strikers are better than,we won most games from the midfield….
Get rid of Laca, he has not justified his transfer fee ever since joining us, work ethics only do not count, in fact he is a down grade on Giroud who I liked coming off the bench for the winner. How I miss him these years. Eddie can do much better than Laca, so we have Laca’s replacement. If Auba leaves, let Gabby take his place and learn for a season.After all with Mesut Ozil in the team, we wont be competing for anything, just making up the numbers in the EPL and some cup games first rounds. So, have Saka on the left, Gabby upfront, Pepe on the right and Eddie off the bench or rotate with Gabby. If Abraham can bang goals for CFC, our lads will do much better.Just got to rid ourselves of the rotten apples of CAM and DM positions and we are good to go.Trust me, barring Louiz/Socrates, even our defense would have been world class if Cocqelin was playing instead of Xhaka. Mistake after mistake by Arsene and continued by Unai has brought us to our knees in mid table.Future definitely looks good if Mikel wishes to make it so, which I doubt. Just sign some big name flops and repeat the circle.
some one mentioned Pepe is a very weak link on our wing.
He makes the fullback look horrible. he never helps defend. watch previous games and you will confirm this.