Reiss Nelson Only Has Himself to Blame by AI
Reiss Nelson was a highly rated youngster in the Arsenal youth setup. He was classified in the same category as the likes of Jadon Sancho. Highly rated players in the Arsenal youth setup tend to do really well in senior football.
But Nelson has been largely stop and start for Arsenal. His most consistent period has come under Mikel Arteta towards the end of his first half season with the club. However, Arsenal wanted to have more security on the wings rather than go through the growing pains of trying to develop Nelson who was not yet impactful enough.
Even without Willian, Nelson’s competition was Bukayo Saka, Nicolas Pepe, Gabriel Martinelli, and, potentially the club captain, Aubameyang, as well as Emile Smith-Rowe. Both Saka and Martinelli were highly rated youth and both had shown a lot more than Nelson. The Arsenal hierarchy thought it wiser to give the bulk of development minutes to those two and supplement Pepe with the free signing of Willian. Nelson was asked to go on loan and, retrospectively, it was the best option for the player and club who already had enough young wingers ahead of him.
However Nelson said no. He was brave enough to believe in himself. He believed that he could win a place in Mikel Arteta’s plans. Fair enough, but when it turned out otherwise, he had lost a lot of time and he is now behind schedule as a player. Both Saka and Martinelli are now even more entrenched than before. Even though Aubameyang has stopped playing on the wings, Emile Smith-Rowe has been impressive there, while Pepe has learnt to play on the left side, too. With another versatile and highly rated forward like Folarin Balogun coming in the side after being chased by half of Europe, it has gotten even worse for Reiss Nelson.
If Nelson had gone on loan when the club advised him to, he would have had a clearer idea of his future whether it belongs here or not. However, he didn’t and he’s now trying to gain back lost time. That’s all on him and nobody else.
Agboola Israel
He’d better do the following options
First, try to impress as an LW in the remaining pre-season games. If he can do that, he could start ahead of Aubameyang, Martinelli, Willian, Nketiah and Balogun in the first EPL game
Second, ask his agent to find other clubs. If Arteta can’t guarantee a starting role for him, he could ask to be transfer-listed
A la Martinez no one is GUARANTEED a starting role, especially not one so young and inexperienced.
At least as a second-choice LW and CAM. But only if he shows great improvement in pre-season
Pretty fair assessment.
God only knows why he wanted to stay.
OT.. We’re supposed to be playing Millwall today in a behind closed doors friendly – Millwall friendly?! 😂
Interesting to see how Ballard does… and will Nelson play?!
According to twitter we won 4-1 (Chambers, Pepe, Balogun, Lacazette)
Arsenal.com are showing the whole 90 minutes @4pm…
Thanks for the info!
Sue,
How authentic is this info? Behind closed doors yet Twitter got the score line.?
Check out Balogun’s tweet
Have watched the game
Lokonga is good
Seems Arteta will use him from day 1
His combination with Partey was very good
He has pace, physical and good passing range
Agreed re:Lokongo, R-N looked good. Auba looked disinterested. ESR looked good. Tavares (sp) is a big boy, raw but a large boy
I don’t think MA needs to guarantee a starting role, just develop the lad sensibly. There were matches when Saka was barely fit and had played match after match, but Nelson wasn’t even given a sub. Willian was used instead, or some other mainly defensive sub made. This feels like really poor man management and must be crushing Nelson’s confidence. He is pretty much the only option we have who offers something a bit different in attack but MA has not developed him as he should IMO. Not impressed.
Gworm, Willian has been destructive to the development of players like Nelson and especially Pepe. Massive mistake.
Why is the author laying all the blame on Nelson?
Martinelli recovering from serious injury and Willian was an embarrassment last year.
Nelson correctly thought there were opportunities there to be taken, even as a sub.
Unfortunately Arteta persisted with a trashy Willian who let Arteta down.
Personally was disappointed Nelson didn’t get a look, even as a sub. Certainly there were minutes available for the young man, but he was just ignored.
Think he offers more than Nketiah who continues to baffle science as to why he even gets on the pitch.
Nketiah is Sanogoal 2.0, immense at lower levels, but unable to transition to the PL.
Sanogoal LOL… I had forget about this fantastic Wenger signing. On level with another Wenger fantastic signings Park chu young, Chamakh, and Andre Santos
You are right Eddie does not seem he will be the stars he was with youngsters. Even thought he might have a decent career in the PL or another top league.
Honestly, those transfers were quite sensible at that time. Park Chu Young is a calculated gamble. If his transfer works, it is a big marketing value to Arsenal’s asian market. Yaya Sanogoal and Chamakh are free transfers. If u remember, during that time arsenal acted like a broke middle club team.. We missed out on Hazard for 40M to Chelsea even tho rumours about him to arsenal has been ongoing for so long..
On today’s game I agree with you. Shocking Nelson didn’t get a look in. He looks lively today and better than Willian
Nelson is talented. He should sign a contract and go for a loan with a club like NCFC
He still has future at the club
I love Lokonga, he’s on his way to playing the first game
We must stop talking about “free” transfers. Players are free agent but it is usually not free transfers like they are free so you can sign under the required level players. Willian cost 15m although on a free transfer. Chamakh and park chu young were terrible transfers not at all the level of a top4 team. I read that both cost 34m in fees and wages for 70 combined games and 15 goals. Total disaster which was very predictable as park chu young was a panic buy from Wenger stealing him in strange fashion from lille while he was doing his medical. I can hear the argument that he was an asset for the Arsenal brand in south korea because if we speak about football it was not at all. Spurs were way smarter with Son which was also a top footballer. Anyway the fact that we were broken can’t explain totally these fails. We still had some money for mertesacker, arteta, koscielny etc during this period. They were just recruitment mistakes…
Nelson was injured a lot of the time.
Nelson was injured between November and the first week of January. Just a couple of months during which we played 12 games in all competitions. Just 2 substitute appearances in the PL and a total of 440 minutes in the first team throughout the entire season.
This is the same player who started 6 games and clocked 540 minutes in the second half of the season under the same manager. He featured for just 320 minutes under the current manager’s predecessor in the first half of the season.
Why must a player choose to go out on loan if he was getting more minutes under the manager? This will be justified, had the player who ate up Nelson’s minutes deservedly earned his place in the squad and performed better than him.
Somebody or anybody, but none from the current management team, must be blamed for the club’s inability to cash in on our fringe players in this transfer window. After Guendouzi and Laca, it’s Nelson’s turn, now.
After penning a 5 year deal with us, Nelson went out on a season long loan to Germany and came back ready to be integrated with the first team squad. Between injuries and managerial change in that season, he performed enough to warrant himself a few starts in the cup competitions and at least a dozen substitute appearances in the league. He made a total of 5 starts (3 in UEL + 1 in FA + 1 in Carbao) and 2 substitute appearances in the league throughout the last season.
Now Nelson has reached the magic number – “just 2 years left in his current contract”. The board must either cash in right now or extend his deal to protect his value.
After a wasted last season due to lack of minutes on the pitch, the management team are not in a position to demand a crazy fee, even though he is a “home-grown” talent. Even they can’t dictate the terms of a loan deal with an obligation to buy. So far. the management team added almost nothing through player sales for a squad rebuild. And selling Nelson right now won’t add anything significant towards that cause.
On the other hand, the club can try to extend his contract by at least a year or two to protect his value for another year or two. After not starting a game last season, yet starting a handful of games the season before, no player will be in a rush to extend his stay with that club.
Either way, only the club is facing a loss due to mismanagement of a player.
“Pro” management articles can’t blame the management for their shortcomings. So, they must try to justify that only the player is to blamed entirely for their fiasco.
👍 Durand.
We are not watching all training sessions. Apparently nelson did well. Maybe he thought he deserved to play more and saw Willian given minutes ahead of him but could not anticipate that ? But yes overall, he should probably have go. A phrase in the article bother me : “It is so sad to think Mikel had to play Willian because he cost and earn a lot. Speaking of that, the article again mention “supplement Pepe with the free signing of Willian”. Free signing ??? Willian was a FREE AGENT, but did not came as FREE. Not at all. We paid a signing bonus of 14 or 15m. For that price, spurs signed PE Hojbjerg.
From what I read, Willian costs us about 30M overall across 3 seasons of contract.. A transfer blunder but not the worst. To me, Pepe feels like more of a waste of money..
you are right pepe cost will be 108 over 5 years and William 35 for 3 years. Pepe cost the double. But his market value and production may also be double no ?! But both are expensive !
Gu4l, take a look at Pepe’s stat’s last season; he has improved each season at Arsenal and hasn’t been helped by Arteta benching him when in goal scoring form. Pepe is another player, who has been snookered by the woeful Willian.
Ozziegunner you are right. People would say “wow pepe cost 72” and “Willian is bad but he was free”… And no overall cost is not that bad. Willian is half of pepe despite being “free” (LOL). Hope that there is no more free players like that at the club.
👍 Kolasinac, another one; looked good at first glance, but the high wages due to him “coming on a free”, have made him difficult to move on.
Well looking at squads of other top 4 teams with news coming in of the players they are signing to strengthen their teams I don’t think we can compete with them for long time. As usual we are shopping at the bottom of barrel and wasting huge sums on avg players. Come end of season we will again be asking the same question why have we ended in mid table. We just done learn, we always go for less known options that too paying over the odds so we can turn then into some sort of stars. Why can we not just go and buy proper known world class talent. Why are we spending 50million on a defender when that sort of money should have been spent on a world class midfielder? I hope the owner wakes up and fires Edu, Arteta and Veni when we don’t see the desired results start of season. We have waited long enough I don’t think we should wait for end of season to make decisions. Owner needs to be brave and show some balls, it’s time to stop playing safe and waiting for things to play out them selves. These three clowns have been given enough time and money if they still can’t put things right then they should get the boot.
Gunners4life
Pepe scored 16 goals last season and compare that with Laca who was bought for 52m and collects 182k
At that cost delivering 65 goals over his stay here is not good enough. He must be sold
Check Pepe’s performance in the coming season
He a key player in lifting us from 15 to 8 last season
Pepe, ESR and Saka saved us from relegation last season
What about Auba ?! Last year 10 goals and 3 assists… The times : “Aubameyang has increased his wage to £250,000 a week but will earn nearer £350,000 a week once loyalty payments and bonuses are included”. Not even mentioning a possible/probable signing bonus… For the kind of production he gave last year, this guy is a total disaster for the club finances…. Strangely people always speak about pepe, laca or the saliba buy but not about him.
Laca hasn’t scored 18 goals a season before
At his value 52m and 182k a week, he should be scoring 20 a season
Compare same with Giroud, who he was meant to replace
Laca should be sold ASAP
the club are working on it apparently. not much interest.
If there was a club with a strong “interest” to hand Willian a three-year contract last season, there will be at least a handful of clubs interested in Laca. Only, they won’t be crazy enough to meet our valuation of Laca.
Maybe with a package ? You sign laca for 15m, you get Willian for free
I’ll let Laca go for free, if his suitors are willing to take Willian on a two year loan deal with an obligation to cover 100% of his wages.
Compare to Giroud or Jamie Vardy or Harry Kane who is on 200k a week and yes Lava is a bad deal. But compare to Aubameyang who earns 250k up to 350k with bonuses (10 goals last year) Laca deal is absolutely ok. I would even extend him, maybe he is ok to take a pay cut just to stay.
Havyn, unfortunately you and others totally underrate Lacazette’s contribution to the team. Look at what it would cost to replace him. Tammy Abraham would disappoint for the money asked, in comparison to Lacazette.
Keep Rece Nelson and all our good young players, this where Arteta is going very wrong, keeping on buying new players AND NONE DOING THAT WELL
Instead of giving our young ones a chance, after, all
the good work Arsene Wenger did with them.
JUST KEEP THEM AND PLAY THEM
My view is that very many players show top class ability when rising through the ranks and getting close to the first team. But only SPECIAL ones make the grade. And a large part of being special is having real mental strength and inner self belief. Witness SAKA ESR, Tierney when at Celtic.
Nelson seems to me to lack all self belief and vital mental toughness and that is the determinent factor that will prevent him achieving his potential at top level. AMN is another one of the same type.
Older proven top level players who have REAL toughness then have a stellar career. ALL HAVE THIS MENTAL TOUGHNESS AND DRIVE AND IS THAT, WHICH SEPARATES THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF.
If the club felt that Nelson lacked self-belief and mental toughness (which can’t be taught by any coaching staff), he must have been told to find a permanent home away from the Emirates last summer and not a temporary one for a season.
Just wondering how a younger player, willing to fight for a place in the senior setup on his own will, after being told to go out on loan, be termed as lacking in self-belief and mental toughness. If he truly lacked those traits, he would have accepted his defeat and have chosen to go out on loan in the winter transfer window like a couple of other young players did after getting limited minutes on the pitch during the first half of the season.
At the expense of Nelson and Willock, our management team took a gamble on a PL proven, world-class player and they lost bad. Willock chose the easier solution by going out on loan. But, Nelson remained resolute in his decision to stay and fight for his place here.
Nelson wasted a year not because of him lacking self-belief and mental toughness. But, through sheer mismanagement of this young lad by our club.
If the club felt that Nelson lacked self-belief and mental toughness (which can’t be taught by any coaching staff), he must have been told to find a permanent home away from the Emirates last summer and not a temporary one for a season.
Just wondering how a younger player, willing to fight for a place in the senior setup on his own will, after being told to go out on loan, be termed as lacking in self-belief and mental toughness. If he truly lacked those traits, he would have accepted his defeat and have chosen to go out on loan in the winter transfer window like a couple of other young players did after getting limited minutes on the pitch during the first half of the season.
At the expense of Nelson and Willock, our management team took a gamble on a PL proven, world-class player and they lost bad. Willock chose the easier solution by going out on loan. But, Nelson remained resolute in his decision to stay and fight for his place here.
Nelson wasted a year not because of him lacking self-belief and mental toughness. But, through sheer mismanagement of this young lad by our club.
The article topic is if Nelson has regretted his refusal to go out on loan last season.
Well, us can only make our guesses as to why he has refused to go out on loan from his Arsenal club side to a loaning club side last season. For, Nelson is the one who can reveal why he has refused a loan out move last season.
As for me, when I remember his Hoffiham loan move that he ended unceremoniously to return to Arsenal without saying the reason for his doing so is dismay. Up till today no one knows why he called it a day on that his Hoffiham loan move. The Hoffiham loan move by Nelson that saw him doing very well at the Bundelisga club side Hoffiham. But which he ended it in abstruct manner without giving any genuine reasons for his doing that inform my thoughts Reiss Nelson has a kind of decision making in him that bothers on recklessness.
“ended unceremoniously to return to Arsenal without saying the reason for his doing so”
When a season long loan deal expires, the loan player returns to his parent club. That’s how it works.
Usually there will be an unveiling ceremony when a player joins the club, both on loan and permanent. Never heard of any sending-off ceremony for a loan player. So, I don’t know what is unceremonious about Nelson’s return to Arsenal after his loan deal expired.
Was his loan deal expired before he returned from Hoffiham to Arsenal, or have I missed something?
I think you missed a whole season! Or two…
Reiss Nelson need to move on or go on loan and work on his finishing.
He is not ready to be playing every game for Arsenal.
At Arsenal he is well paid and he feels he is ready but he is not, simple.
Top class players seen to have a ‘breakout’ season when everything clicks into place. Saka and Smith Rowe had that last season, and it may have happened with Joe Willock, which is why he should be loaned out and not sold. Maitland-Niles and Nelson may have had limited outings with the first-team last season, but they cannot have shown quite enough on the training pitch. Alex Iwobi, by contrast, had enough chances to win a regular first-team spot, but just fell short. Maitland-Niles, lest we forget, a full England international, could be used as a bargaining chip, (I hate the term makeweight), in our transfer dealings. Probably the same with Nelson: failing that, a quick call to our old mucker Patrick at Palace, might prove fruitful.