Danny Mills insists Arsenal is keeping Eddie Nketiah because it makes more business sense to give him a new deal.
The former England Under-21 star would have left the club on the expiry of his contract at the end of June.
Arsenal tried to get him on a new deal before now, but he wouldn’t accept it and it seemed certain he would leave because of a lack of playing time.
But Mikel Arteta gave him some chances to lead the attack in the last few games of the season and that may have made him change his mind about leaving.
The striker will now sign a new long-term contract, but former Premier League player, Mills believes the Gunners didn’t have a better option.
He tells Football Insider: “Arsenal are now in a situation where it’s a little bit desperate. If they lose Lacazette then they are going to have to pay £30million to bring a player in.
“They’ve got Nketiah there so they’re going to have to bite the bullet. They will say ‘We’ve got him here, we’re going to have to pay more than we want but if we don’t do that we’re going to have to pay even more to get an equal replacement’.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Nketiah has proven he can score goals for us, and as they say, it is better late than never.
We are lucky that he hasn’t signed a pre-contract with another club just yet.
This means we can now keep one of our best academy products. Hopefully, he would keep getting better and score even more goals for us next season.
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Video – The Just Arsenal Show: Alfie and Rob discuss Nketiah and Elneny and how the latest news affects Arsenal’s transfer window