The Balogun-Nketiah conundrum at Arsenal by Yash
Eddie Nketiah will only have a year left on his contract at Arsenal in the summer. It is a brilliant opportunity to move him on and generate some cash.
That cash, along with the sales of others, can help Arsenal in revamping their squad to a great extent.
But Arsenal see themselves in a precarious situation. They would have to let the young striker go on a nominal fee due to his contractual situation.
Loaning him out like the Gunners did for Ainsley Maitland Niles and Joe Willock would have protected his true value to some extent.
But now, not even making the bench for the North London outfit is the worst place the 21-year-old could have been. It is also worth noting that Arsenal are on the verge of giving Folarin Balogun a new four-year contract, which could be the final nail on Nketiah’s Arsenal coffin.
Giving their young hero a contract extension only means one thing. The 19-year-old has at future. And maybe he has a future at the expense of Nketiah’s Arsenal career. Who knows?
Both have a same agent, and Balogun’s agent would not have agreed to a new deal, if it didn’t involve Balogun in the club’s near future plans.
Taking the conversation to technical terms on the pitch, Balogun is no doubt a more complete center-forward than Nketiah. The England U21 international is the old-school goal poacher. While the 19-year-old Balogun have a number of tricks up his sleeve. Be it holding the ball or being clinical in front of the goal. He even has great pace and links up the play well.
It looks like Arsenal see a better player in Balogun. And they might well be right on that notion.
Only time will tell whether choosing Balogun over Nketiah will be a good decision. But many believe Arsenal will get it right, if they choose the academy player for their future project.
What do you think Arsenal will do?
Yash Bisht