Arsenal writer James McNicholas has claimed that the potential exit of Eddie Nketiah could have ‘wild’ consequences.
The young striker is set to enter January with just six months left on his contract. This means he will be able to begin negotiations with rival clubs with a mind to joining them on a free transfer in the summer.
West Ham United are one side to be recently linked with a move for the 22-year-old. However, while talking on the Arsecast podcast, McNicholas claimed that if Nketiah was to move to the Hammers for free, the Gunners could be due some compensation.
He explained: “The Nketiah situation is quite interesting contractually in terms of like, where he goes and what Arsenal would be due.
“So if he goes at the end of the season, at the end of his contract, to another English team, Arsenal will be due compensation.
“And if that can’t be agreed in terms of a transfer fee with the club, it would go to a tribunal. And there’s a lot of risk involved there, like you can get pretty wild results.
“I mean, when Danny Ings went from Burnley to Liverpool, it ended up being about £10m, all in.”
He went on to explain that different tribunals have seen other teams get paid compensation that was a fraction of their former player’s true value.
TIF Thoughts on Eddie Nketiah and Arsenal…
During the summer, The Athletic reported that the young English striker was wanted by Crystal Palace. The story explained that Arsenal wanted double the £10m bid the Eagles were prepared to offer.
Would Eddie Nketiah fit well into this West Ham side?
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No
Evidently, Nketiah stayed with the Gunners, where he has struggled to make much of an impact since – playing just twice for the senior team, and not once in the Premier League.
Despite being valued by the club at around £20m in the past summer, he could end up moving to West Ham for free at the end of this season. If this was the case, as McNicholas explains, the Gunners would be due some compensation.
The big issue, of course, could be just how much money Arsenal would be awarded. It sounds like this figure can wildly vary from one end of the price spectrum to the other, so this matter is far from a foregone conclusion at this point.
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