Charles Watts feels that Eddie Nketiah could be on his way out of Arsenal following some recent developments at the club.
The Gunners look set to announce a new deal for forward Folarin Balogun, the 19-year-old who has been lighting it up with the club’s academy side in the past few seasons, and that could have a knock-on effect with players already at the club, one of them being the 21-year-old Nketiah.
The Arsenal academy graduate, valued at £16.2m on Transfermarkt, is heading into the final 15 months of his contract and doesn’t look to have much of a future at the Emirates, primarily being used as a cup competition player this season under Mikel Arteta.
And speaking on the latest edition of his show (2:51), Watts hinted that with Balogun looking like he could be the man for the future, it might force Nketiah out of the door:
“So you’d have thought in all the conversations about Balogun and why he should stay and his pathway being mapped through to the first team, they would certainly have included Nketiah. And for now you kind of look at Nketiah as someone who’s standing in the way of Balogun and you do wonder as part of those talks, if it’s been agreed that Eddie will move on to get some first-team football elsewhere from next season. But that’s something that will be decided in the summer.”
Does Nketiah have a future at Arsenal?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ comments about Eddie Nketiah’s future
Watts’ assessment certainly doesn’t look all that promising for Nketiah, and the way the stars are aligned right now with both Balogun’s contract and Nketiah’s, you wouldn’t be surprised to see Nketiah leave the club this summer.
It is a move that would probably make sense for both parties. Arsenal certainly need the money after the financial year that they have had, and Nketiah needs to be playing regularly at this stage of his career, so a move away to a lower-level Premier League club or a Championship side would give him plenty of that.
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