Even if Arsenal signs a good striker, do Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus still have a future at the Emirates?
The idea is that one of the two will have to make way for the new striker, but after hearing Glenn Murray’s assessment of the two, I can see how influential they can still be, even if someone comes in and takes over the No. 9 role.
On PL Productions, the ex-Brighton striker said of Nketiah and Jesus, “We refer to Jesus as a number nine, but for me, he hasn’t got that mentality; he drops in; he’s more of a 10, he gets involved in play, and he drops into that space. Nketiah is more of a nine, but he hasn’t got that stature or the physicality just yet; he’s learning.”
If I were to make sense of Murray’s claim, I’d advise Mikel Arteta to consider using Gabriel as a playmaker as an option in one of the two No. 8 roles. With Gabriel’s great technical ability, trickery, and great link-up play, he could be setting up chance after chance for the (hopefully) new Arsenal striker. He may have a bigger influence in this situation because he does everything well except scoring goals frequently.
While Jesus adjusts to his new role as a playmaker, Nketiah may get the pleasure of watching, learning, and filling in as striker when Arteta is eager to rotate with Arsenal’s tight schedule.
So, like me, do you think Nketiah and Gabriel still have a chance to impact Arsenal even if a striker joins?
Daniel O
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Jesus could play AM or winger. It’s also good to have him in the CF or false-nine position for some games
As for Nketiah, he isn’t consistent enough to play CF/ false-nine nor is he skilled enough to be a winger. We’d better sell him to make a room for the new CF
Yea, I think Nkethia should be sold he goes anonymous in some games. Jesus can easily play variety of position in the Frontline.
Well if we got a new striker, it would make sense to cash in on Nketiah, and rotate with Jesus. From his time at City, we also know that Jesus can play out wide, giving much needed competition for Saka and Martinelli.
If we need the money to secure a new striker we cash in on Nketia which is most likley. If we did keep both nketia and Jesus I think Jesus is a good backup for Saka and solves this problem of over playing Saka and also frees us up to sell Reiss Nelson.
I think we are gonna have to get rid of 1 of Nelson and or Nketia to fund a new striker and maybe ESR.
But ultimately Jesus will play 2nd fiddle to ST and RW roll. With Nelson, ESR and Nketia to be sold in that order of importance
Can’t understand why you would want ESR sold shortboygooner, but agree with Nketiah and Nelson, IF it meant getting a top striker in return.
Mikel should have addressed this last season and it looks like chelsea are, once again as they have since 2005, going to outbid us for Ivan Toney.
Like you Ken I simply cannot understand why Arteta continues to ignore ESR.
I saw an article today saying Osimhen (not Toney) has agreed to join Chelsea….
It is hightime we understand that ESR will be like Wilshere.A bright career deemed by injuries. We need to move on With him because EPL is physical now that injury prone players will struggle to cope.
Move on without him i meant
Even if we sign a striker, I’d think we should keep the two players.
Nketiah would provide cover/competition for the new No.9 while Jesus can operate from the wings.
For those who so gleefully write of Nketiah, we conveniently forget how he held the fort when Jesus was unavailable for a while last season. For me, he did well during that period.
Earlier this season he scored a hat-trick against Sheffield United. You need to go a bit far down memory lane to recall when last an Arsenal player achieved that feat.
I watched the club’s 2023 goals on arsenal.com the other day and some of Nketiah’s goals struck me as a proper striker’s goals. And he is only 24; he can only get better.
Nketiah shows flashes of quality but I don’t think he is good enough and should be sold. Jesus I would keep, not for his goal scoring but because he is a talented versatile footballer.
Please, Not Nketiah. He’ll never grow beyond where he is under Arteta. Perhaps a more experienced coach can get him to the next level.
No incoming striker, deal with it!!!
The only position Eddie Nketiah should be playing is……LEFT OUT. For the life of me I don’t understand why anyone believes he will ever be anything aside from a dreadfully average center forward.
Gabby Jesus is a back up forward all day. A guy who can give you quality minutes at any forward position, but can’t be counted on as a consistent goal scorer. He should be backing up a proper CF or slotting in on the wings. But if he is leading your line, you better have a young Neymar and Messi on either side of him if you expect to win a major trophy.
Eddie is more of a goalscorer and to win the league another no 9 should be added to the squad, not sold. Players such as ESR, Cedric and Elneny moved on to raise funds as they get no minutes. An in-house defender should be tried in games as we need another fullback alternative.