The Arsenal U23 side won the EPL2 title this season and there were over 40 players used in the competition. The Gunners sealed the title with a 3-1 away win at West Ham last month with Nelson opening the scoring and Nketiah netting twice, once in each half, to make sure of the points.
This meant that Nelson had scored nine times in 11 PL2 appearances, while Nketiah scored 12 goals in just 13 starts, but according to the Premier League Football Development Panel, it was Nelson that was most impressive over the season.
Ryan Garry, Arsenal’s head foundation phase coach, said about Nelson: “It’s so good to see him win the award. It’s really deserved, and there are a lot of people from Hale End that have played a part in getting him to where he is at the moment.
“I’m very proud. Reiss, alongside a few other boys this year, has not only made his debut, but he’s played a significant amount of Premier League game time, Europa League game time, FA Cup game time, the Carabao Cup as well.
“Reiss will be the first to say he will want to progress on even further, and I’m sure he will be focused on that in the summer and looking forward to a new season.”
Both Nelson and Nketiah have been used by Arsenal in first team matches this season and both look like they have a very bright future and are expected to join Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the first team squad for the next campaign.
Surprisingly though, Nelson was left out of the England U19 side for the upcoming Euros, but Nketiah gets a big boost by being called up for the England U21 side for the first time for the Toulon Tournament, where he will be joined by Maitland-Niles. Considering that Nketiah hasn’t yet turned 19 it is a big honour, but after scoring 8 goals in 8 outings for the England U19s he will be hoping to carry on his prolific form at the higher level this summer.
Good luck to both of them and I hope to see them doing good things for the Gunners’ first team next season too…
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