Nketiah admits that his former teammates inspire him to ‘keep pushing

Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah has admitted that he is motivated by seeing his former youth teammates Declan Rice and Mason Mount starring for the England senior side.

Nketiah broke the record to become the all-time highest goalscorer for the England Under-21 side last month, but is yet to get a call-up to the senior side.

He is currently behind a host of strikers including Tammy Abraham, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Danny Ings and Dominic Calvert-Lewis in his bid to earn a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s side, but knowing his former teammates Rice and Mount have made the jump is motivating him.

“It puts a smile on my face seeing Declan and Mase playing together,” Eddie told Alan Shearer at The Athletic. “We were all playing for Chelsea under-10s; you couldn’t separate those two. It’s great to see kids you’ve grown up with doing well and it motivates me to keep going and keep pushing. Keep doing that, keep working hard and you can play at that level. It’s possible. It doesn’t matter how young you are, Gareth will give you that opportunity.”

Nketiah will need to be doing much more at club level to be considered for the senior England squad, but at 21 years-old he still has time to earn his way in.

You would think that Lacazette’s failure in front of goal of late would have opened the door for Nketiah, but Eddie hasn’t made enough of an impression when he has featured this term.

Does Nketiah have the makings of a full England international in the future?

Patrick