To be a big club you act like a big club. by Dan Smith
If Reiss Nelson turned down two contract offers from Man City based on wanting assurances of more game time, Pep Guardiola would laugh while ordering him a taxi and wishing him all the best in his future endeavours.
For a start he wouldn’t get near the squad at the Etihad. Isn’t that the team we want to be compared too, their levels the ones we wish to reach?
In my opinion, the 23-year-old should be grateful that Arsenal have offered any kind of extension and are not simply allowing him to leave as a free agent.
This after all was the graduate that everyone was most excited about at Hale’s End.
He’s older than Saka and Smith Rowe, both who have had regular runs in the first teams where they scored double figures.
Yes, Reiss Nelson had that great moment against Bournemouth and at our academy since the age of 9, no one can take that away from him.
Yet any professional can strike a ball from long distance, it’s not enough to decide your future.
What a big club would do is analyse the whole-time frame from when the latest contract was signed, make a judgement based on that and determine the assets valuation and worth.
The midfielder’s current deal started in August 2018. In that time, he had loans in Germany and Holland.
He was good at Hoffenheim, okay at Feyenoord. Both had periods on the side-lines with injury, both managers at times questioned his fitness.
He’s played approx. 16 times this season. During those 5 years in three different countries how many truly great games has he had?
Enough to be saying no to the Arsenal?
Enough to be thinking he can do better elsewhere.
There will be those with a sense of entitlement who will say he hasn’t had enough opportunities, been unlucky with injuries, was played out of position, etc. 77 games though are enough to prove yourself and still, no longer a youngster, we are still waiting.
Many have focused on his winner against the Cherries. What you should focus on is the two legs with Sporting Lisbon.
Sometimes timing is everything. That was his manager giving him a chance in a top-level match, with high stakes pressure.
His boss would have been wondering does the player have the personality to demand the ball.
Does he want to make things happen?
Or does he shy away?
Does he play the safe pass?
Those two games in Europe summed up most of his showing in a red and white shirt. He’s grateful to be there more than believing.
He’s probably got the same agent as Eddie Nketiah, advisors realising if he becomes an official free agent, he can leverage counter offers. He’s got every right to point out if Eddie gets 100,000 a week, what’s his worth?
We can’t though, that work out as Arsenal paying 200,000 pound a week on two players, who years after their debuts haven’t proven they are top half of the division level.
Anyone with the player’s best interests at heart would encourage a move.
At 23 he needs to be playing regular football. That will never happen at Arsenal.
I hope not anyway, because I want Arsenal to be competing at a certain level. We are not going to win or lose Prems based on Reiss Nelson staying or going.
He should be grateful he even got a new deal offered in the first place, because make no mistake the Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Chelsea won’t be interested.
To be a big club, you act like a big club.
Big clubs decide their asking price and if the player says no, you say goodbye.
Especially when the asset in question is still to prove he’s good enough.
Dan Smith
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Can’t argue with the logic here. I think there’s a good reason to want him to stay – even if he’s ‘just’ a super sub (which I do think he is), super subs can be extremely useful and aren’t all that common. However, if he’s not happy with that role, at least for the short term, then that’s his decision and we shouldn’t go out of our way to convince him otherwise. As I’ve said before, I think he’d be a loss, but we can’t be drawn into overpaying on another contract.
There is a fact that it is his life and only he knows what he wants and what is best for him.
There is another fact that we fans knows nothing about what is going inside and he is the better judge of what is best for his career and his life.
Also perhaps someone offered him more?
HH, exactly right; we do not know the facts of the situation with Reiss Nelson. When given opportunities this season, he has performed well overall. We do not know what Arsenal has offered, whether it is reasonable or not? Arsenal hopefully carry out due diligence to assess whether they can replace Reiss Nelson with a better player under more favourable contract conditions to them.
However if ArsenaI is not offering enough to meet Nelson’s expectations, he always has the option and opportunity to progress his playing career elsewhere. He won’t be the first and he won’t be the last of the Hale End graduates to leave.
I think keeping or selling Nelson is a very difficult decision for the management, the potential and the promise are there. Probably Nelson and his representatives are using Nketia as a yardstick in their contract expectations and demands. I think Arsenal got themselves in a very dangerous situation by giving Eddie a big wages (he’s not worth)
I think keeping him might not necessarily take team forward, but moving him might be an opportunity to get an upgrade
Agree Dan – I dislike getting into arguments about individual players, as I haven’t a clue what goes on behind the scenes.
But I felt the £100k a week contract for Nketiah was way over his value and the same goes for Nelson.
We haven’t got an oil rig of money to splash out on, what I, personally, see as mediocre players.
Look how Elneny’s new contract was handled – one year extension at no extra cost (reportedly of course) and he grabbed it with open arms.
If Nelson thinks he can do better than The Arsenal, he has every right to explore that avenue.
I don’t think many fans will lose an awful lot of sleep if he does.
DAN I HAVE NO BEEF AT ALL WITH WHAT YOU WROTE .In fact , you wrote a mountain of truth and reality.
But I do wonder at your seemingly naive view of what players are like, in general, in todays world of self entitled younger people, including players.
I have long told anyone who cares to read my worldly wise posts that players are NOT fans and so do not have the same outlook on our club(or any other club). As in all rules there are exceptions, but plainly Nelson is not one of the exceptions but fits the norm.
To cut to the chase,it seems plain that he willleave on a free this summer and IMO though we could and should have got at least SOME TRANFSER FEE, had we handled his contract situation more wisely, it is now best for our club that he leaves.
Uncommitted players, as you rightly said, would be out the door at City in a flash.
So, UNLIKE OUR CLUB , would inferior players too. Sigh!
Perhaps Arsenal consider Nelson to be a late bloomer as Vardy was?
Vardy achieved his true potential when he was 27 and I believe he was good enough to play for Man City in his prime
That might also be one of the reasons but it’s very hard to tell. Though I don’t think the club can afford late bloomers at this point. We need the HERE AND NOW players
Maybe, but Arsenal were patient enough to wait until Xhaka had a very good season
Good point GAI, but if we wait until Nelson is 27, at, say, £100k a week, would you consider it good value?
What if he doesn’t mature?
That’s why I told him the club cannot afford that at the moment
Not at £100k weekly salary, but around £60k + huge bonuses for his future productivity could be worth the gamble
In my opinion, Nelson is more talented than Smith-Rowe and Trossard to compete with Martinelli for the LW role. Maybe Arsenal have similar assessment
ken, but none of us know the details of Arsenal’s offer, which Nelson has rejected.
Agree OG but I go back to Dan’s question, why are we offering him one anyway?
It seems to be on the basis of one great goal, as he has never REALLY been a stand out success wherever he’s played… but as I say, I don’t have a clue what goes on behind the scenes.
My bet is he wants parity with Nketiah.
A lot of people are missing the point, our attack is not the problem, we need enough money to spend on our midfield and defense. Letting Nelson go means we will have to folk out 30-40 million pounds for a pacy left winger because lets face it Trossard and Smith Rowe don’t have the pace of Nelson and Martinelli. We want to keep him for atleast this season until we have sorted out our midfield which will definitely require huge sums of money.
It is always worth having a player like Nelson on the bench
Surely it quite simple.
He is being offered a contract as it gives us a useful squad player and if he is tied down long term we get a transfer fee instead of letting him go a free.
It worked with Nketiah, he has been this season and if we flogged him we would get easily enough to cover what we had paid him in wages.
Letting young players go on a free is not good business and finding ones who are prepared to sit on the bench is not easy. Patino and Balogun want to move on. If Nelson wants to stay then I do not see the problem.
I like Nelson and would want him to stay. On the wings he is direct and cuts inside and take a shot rather than just the safe option. Also, he has the engine for the midfield (a bit like Ramsey used to but of course he needs to improve defensively).
I would also like to see Marquinhos back at the club as he has real potential.
I would let him go rather than giving him a 5 years,100K/week contract. I’m pretty sure that we have an academy player who can give us as much as he has,for less money and count as homegrown.anyway,should he leave,we would be entitled to some compensation.
I’ve seen many mention the 100k figure yet there’s no evidence whatsoever that he has demanded that amount.
Having said that,there are a few reasons why I am for retaining Nelson in the squad :
Firstly, there’s a homegrown quota that the squad needs to meet and we all know how expensive it is to buy English players. Some of these players like Holding,Niles and Balogun will likely leave,leaving slots that need to be filled even with the arrival of a player like Rice.Nelson saves us the need to buy another English player just to meet the quota while not significantly affecting the quality of the squad.
Secondly,it would be a shame if Arsenal were to lose Nelson for free having invested in his development since he was a boy. Getting him to sign a contract protects his value which means Arsenal can get a transfer fee for him in the future. That is also why it was smart for Arsenal to give Eddie a new contract. This is a player who would have walked for free but is now an asset that will guarantee the club 20 Million pounds at the very least. Too many valuable players have walked for free in the recent past,putting the club at a disadvantage financially. It would be nice to get some much needed transfer fees for a change.
Thirdly,it’s not far-fetched to imagine that Nelson could come good. It has been reported that Arteta is a fan of his. Giving him a new contract provides one more veritable chance to assess what he can do for the team. Trossard is a short term solution on the LW given his age. In the long term,if he(Nelson) proves to be good enough,he could be the ideal rotation for Martinelli,saving Arsenal millions required to sign another LW.
Finally,and perharps more sentimentally, Nelson has openly said how he loves the club. He’s Arsenal through and through. I assume we all know the advantages of having a player like that in the squad so I won’t say much about it.
Thanks for reading my opinion
You’re right,no one knows what salary he is asking for.the reason I brought up 100K is because of Nketiah,so
I’m assuming that he’d get something close to that.lasly, should we keep a player just because of homegrown quota?or because he is an academy gaduate?
The assumption is Eddie got that and they have the same role
On bench
👍👍 Onyango and Siamois.
Why did Brighton make Caicedo sign a new contract, even when they knew they were going to sell him?
When he is contracted for the next several years at his current club, that club can ask for a larger fee, because they do not have to rush to sell him!!!!
So Arsenal can ask for a higher fee if they sell Reiss Nelson.
PS, Saka has still NOT signed a new contract, despite all the comments of “Any minute now” from Arsenal
JW, what is Saka worth on a free transfer?
Will Arsenal take another financial hit they can’t afford?
The crazy world of football
Paying £100kpw to EN and possibly Reiss Nelson when neither player are worth it so as to protect Arsenal’s investment on resale.
I don’t want us to retain R Nelson, and I don’t think he needs to be replaced, other than maybe the home quota rule possibly
The problem we have is our beloved coach he doesn’t want other players
Like nelson, smith, nketiah,tian
We like Jesus mostly bt nketiah is there bt is not giving him chance
Like yesterday match we leave nelson out and put trasord even sub he did my friend arteta nooo
We have they our blood players which have heart for team nelson, nketiah,Jesus is off bt he doesn’t give our young player chance practice makes perfect give nketiah,nelson, smith even nelson was better than saka before bt arteta you kill future for our players because you like your Jesus,nd zicheko who doesn’t even no how to defend give him number eleven we know that is forward not defender sell tian bt you will regret