Mikel Arteta has revealed that one of the reasons why Reiss Nelson wasn’t sent out on loan this season so that he can play more football was because he showed the willingness to stay and fight.
The Englishman is one the finest players coming through the Arsenal academy in recent seasons and he has impressed Arteta as well.
He has been part of the first team set up since the Spaniard was named the club’s manager.
He played an important role as Arsenal came from behind to beat Liverpool 2-1 in the Premier League during project restart.
With the likes of Willian joining the club, opportunities to play will be very limited for the exciting winger.
However, Arteta has revealed that sending him out on loan for the rest of this season was considered, but the youngster also showed the passion to fight for a place in the team and they decided to keep him at the club.
“It was mixed reasons, Reiss was really convinced that he wanted to fight to stay here,” said Arteta via Standard Sports.
“And when you see that willingness and that passion and that security in a player, you feel tempted to keep him even though you know that opportunities are going to be restricted and he is not going to have a lot of continuity in his play.
“We ended up with a large squad at the end of the transfer market. We had a few plans in mind with Reiss. One of them was as well to send him on loan to get more minutes because of the competition we have upfront.
“But things change very quickly and if he starts playing, and playing well, and he does what he can do, why not? He could start to play more games.”
