Paul Merson has urged Eddie Nketiah to remain at Arsenal for another two or three seasons.
The striker has been out of the first-team picture at the Emirates and has rejected the offer of a new deal.
With the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Gabriel Martinelli ahead of him in the pecking order, he feels he would struggle to play regularly for the club.
However, Mikel Arteta wants him to stay and fight for his place on the team.
He scored a hat-trick against Sunderland in the Carabao Cup yesterday to remind fans what he is capable of.
Merson believes he still has time and should spend some more seasons at Arsenal before he leaves the club.
‘My advice would be, I’d say stick here. Stick here for two, three more years. He’s a kid, he’s got plenty of years left,’ the former Arsenal man said on Sky Sports as quoted by The Daily Mail.
‘I know he wants to play football now, of course he does.
‘There’s not a lot of 20-year-old kids leading the line in the Premier League at the moment. This kid is a good player.
‘He should have faith in his ability that he will get a start for Arsenal. Just stick around.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
Nketiah has shown in matches for the England Under21 that he is a superstar in the making and he is proving that in the Carabao Cup this season.
Every player wants to be a regular in the Premier League and that might be one reason he wants out of Arsenal.
However, the club has to keep trying to convince him to stay because he can benefit from remaining at the Emirates.
With Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang possibly leaving the club, he should get chances to play.
“Superstar in the making” is perhaps a stretch but I think Merson is making sense here (for once). Aubamayang looks on the way out, Lacazette’s future is still uncertain and Balogun so far hasn’t shown he’s ready for prime time (harsh I know given he hasn’t been given a run of games). There’s a chance for Nketiah at Arsenal if he backs himself (likely) and believes he’ll be given a fair shot (less likely given his lack of minutes).
Second or third choice at Arsenal versus feeding off scraps at a team fighting for relegation. That might be his choice.
Completely agree!
Balogun needs to go on loan for the rest of this season and possibly the next for game time & experince, never know come the summer he might be ready after a 6month loan deal?
Eddie should look at the situation now as Auba is on his way out of the club, Laca is (ATM) leaving when his contract runs down come June, the young guns are all getting a chance and he took his last night.
Is he a little Ian Wright as people say, we will only know if we let him play in near every game either starting or off the bench with Saka, Martinelli, SmithRowe, Øde & Pepe, who also proved a point & showed he has it in his locker. We have alot of players there for rotation and havnt even mentioned Laca will be here too until June at least. Positive Signs.
Best Scenario come Jan;
– Auba Leaves along with Elneny (& Kola)
– Sign replacements for both as Thomas will be away at AFCON
– Eddie Signs a new deal
Isn’t this a bit of an excessive response to a performance against a League 1 side? He’s never convinced that he can do it consistently at PL level – he did have plenty of chances to do that in the past.
However, he does appear to have transformed a bit over the summer and I was looking forward to how he did this year – he hasn’t had a real opportunity, but that’s likely because he’s going to leave soon (his celebrations yesterday suggested as much?), so to me, he’s an unknown quantity at best and not someone I’d be desperate to keep on at the moment, nor someone I’d rather see in the first team than Laca.
If he gets a chance and does similar damage in a PL game I might change my view, because there’s a lot I like about Nketiah
Any top team has two top players per position.
Can you please name 22 top players at Arsenal before Saying because we have LACA, Eddie is not needed?
I see these kind of comments a lot , but they do not make sense. It takes one game to have an injury or more to your key players and disorganize your team all together. Look at Leeds now, or reflect on the time we had Tierney injured without having a good back up.
Question is whether Nketiah is a player to help us get top 4, and be competitive in PL and Europe?
Sadly, he is not. ESR, Saka, Martinelli, these are attacking players that are showing what it takes to improve the club.
Can anyone honestly say Nketiah is at that level? EsR as a 10, Saka and Martinelli on the wings, and Nketiah as striker?
No, he will not help propel Arsenal forward, he is not a solution. We must move on if we wish the club to improve and compete with the best.
In several years he may be a competent striker, but it should not be at Arsenal.
Yes Eddie is on their level but as a number 9 goal poacher. He is clinical in his role. will not miss many many Chances. The team needs Variety and depending on opposition he can be used especially with a strong CAM and good wingers to supply him.
Its like saying Aqueirro was not a good player just. He was a centre forward goal machine but quite a different style from the wingers like sterling, Messi etc.
Nketiah isn’t the solution. And we shouldn’t because he scored an hat-trick against a 3rd tier team say he should be starting ahead of anyone. That will be completely ludicrous. I just think he has a lot of luck with goal scoring. He is just another Auba in the making, depends wholly on other players alot. And struggles big-time when other players aren’t playing well. Getting a world-class striker should be the priority, and not granting him an extension. Would I prefer him ahead of Lacazette?? Definitely not!🤔 His all round game was poor and alot failed to acknowledge this, focusing instead on the hat-trick made.
What about him being the England under 21 top scorer? is that because he played Sunderland all his career?
a good number 9 should score as many goals as possible. be at the right place at the right time, I would take that over huffing and puffing in the name of an overall game.
Martinelli has learned a lot to preserve his energy in games to take of as an F1 car whenever an opportunity to counter and score arises. These energy management skills should be taught to players.