According to The Athletic, Reiss Nelson has agreed a new four-year deal at Arsenal.
The 23-year-old is out of contract this summer and had been expected to leave the club following approaches from clubs in England and abroad.
A star at academy level, Nelson made his debut for the Gunners in January 2018 but has found it tough going making a similar impact on the first team.
He’s enjoyed encouraging loan spells with Hoffenheim and Feyenoord but untimely injuries have stalled his momentum and tended to knock his confidence.
While Nelson hasn’t made a start in the Premier League this season, the winger has featured 17 times, including memorable goal-scoring cameos against Nottingham Forest and Brentford.
Given he’s on the fringes of the squad, Arsenal’s decision to offer a long-term deal will likely raise a few eyebrows and lead to questions about our plans in the transfer market.
At the same time, it’s a practical move that safeguards the player’s value while giving him more time to impress a manager who clearly rates him.
In November, Nelson said: “I’ve never doubted myself at this football club. Arsenal is a team that I’ve been at since I was eight years old and I have a very, very strong bond and love for the club.
“Of course, there have been times where I’ve been a bit down when I haven’t played or been on the bench, but my plan has never been for me to leave the club or say that I have no future here and I will do everything possible to get there.
“I only have some months left on my contract. Getting a new deal would be amazing and I would love to commit to the club.”
Great decision all round, his inclusion more regularly from the bench the second half of the season says to me that Mikel has seen something in training to suggest he can take Nelson to the next level. The talent was always there, if Mike and co can unlock it we could have another exceptional player in our squad from Hale End.
This also means the transfer war chest could be focussed on our midfield and defence areas, especially if we’re targeting players like Rice and Caicedo who both won’t come cheap.
Am I being selfish wanting both Rice and caicedo not one or the other. Caicedo gives me kante Leicester era vibes but might be a bit young to move our needle in year one. Rice on his own would move the needle but if he’s a direct replacement for xhaka are we short again the second partey get injured.
I’d nearly rather be short in defence than midfield if you had caicedo and rice chopping legs in midfield
He makes a bigger than Fabio Vieira. Should be ahead of him based on form.
He was injured at the beginning of the year, too, and for a bit after the world cup. 17 appearances is pretty decent, considering. Maybe next year he gets 25 and a couple of starts.
Yep, alot of games next season too, we’re gonna need him if we want to compete on multiple fronts
I feel it’s more about securing his market value…he could eventually come through but can now be moved for 25-35m … always sad to see a hale ender leave for nothing…We should have taken the 20m for Maitland Niles after the FA cup win
Great news, the more we can retain players the better. He must have done enough in training etc to prove his value to Arteta so this is really pleasing.
CUT TO: Nelson sold to Brighton for £30 million
I know he’s not Andrew’s or James’s favourite but I’m really really happy about this and happy for Reiss.
I know he’s not Andrew’s or James’s favourite but I’m really really happy about this and happy for Reiss.
We are going to need good players as back up with all the fronts we will be fighting on next season. A good move imo.
Now sell him
Absolutely. Good business to protect value. Can’t let players leave for free anymore. We need a player above, at or a tick below Saka to also play on the right, and Reiss is too far under that level for where we need to be. Good player, but not for where we’re going.
I’m fine with this, providing he’s not on Walcott Wages. Based on his appearances after Xmas, he showed more ability to change a game than e.g. Nketiah, Vieira, or ESR.
How did he show more ability to change a game than ESR? ESR barely played, so unless that is your rationale I don’t see it. Nelson did something tangible in 2 games, and in one of them ESR got the assist for our 1st goal. This nonsense about people’s opinion on ESR being based on sentiment is just that. He was our 2nd-top goal-scorer last season and saved Mikel Arteta’s job the season before. I’ve also seen the opinion voiced that ESR doesn’t play how Arteta wants his wide player to play (i.e. what Martinelli does). If that’s the case,… Read more »
Somebody needs to give Vieira some peanut butter and a jug of protein powder. Heavy weight, low reps, dude!
Reminds me of Ozil when he first arrived. I remember noticing he definitely packed on the pounds in an off season. Viera needs to do the same.
He’s starting to live up to his potential so I think it would be foolish to let him go now, he might end up being back up to Saka but we need that, Saka playing a few less minutes next season would probably be beneficial to him
We forget that Nelson was the original starboy. But he’s certainly not that star fire power player anymore. He can be a very good “does what the manager wants him to do” player. Happy to see him signed up.
Yes, he was the original crown jewel of Hale End.
And yes, I believe he can make it to the very top. He has all the talent in the world, just needs to stay injury free…
Fantastic news.
Great squad player with enormous potential and a Hale End lad, no less.
A very wise decision to stay with a club going places and develop under Mikel’s tutoring.
Hopefully Flo Balogun will take note and do likewise.
Signing new deals before the transfer window opens is really smart. Leaves more space and time to focus on bringing new players and selling those who are not needed at the club anymore.
memorable goal-scoring cameos against Nottingham Forest and Brentford
I think Bournemouth one was the far more memorable
Of all the players arguably outside of Arteta’s ‘trust circle’ (harsh, but let’s face it, that first 12 or 13 players he’ll always turn to if fully fit), Reiss is comfortably the one I was most impressed with this season. Probably the closest we currently have to a Martinelli replacement, and could be hugely important for us in next year’s cup competitions
Good decision to keep him. He’s had more impact than a certain 100m flop. Great team player who’s showing signs of improvement.
I hope he doesn’t relax now, it’s time to put in more work and push the starters.
Can’t escape the feeling that this has been done mainly to ensure we can get a fee for him when we move him on, but would love to be wrong. He’s looked our liveliest substitute by some distance in recent months.
Even if that is all it is for, I am more than happy with it. Sick of losing decent talent on free transfers. Hope he kicks on to challenge the starters.
All I hope for now is that he stays injury free and gets more playing time. Goals and good things will come.
So happy with this news. I know some fans think he should be upgraded, but he’s an Arsenal lad through and through and has done so well when given a chance this season. Would love to see him getting some starts in 23/24
Starts in 23/24? That will be if there are injuries, for me. I believe his new contract is to protect his value, and as cover for Martinelli while the club focuses on other areas this summer. By this time next season, I wouldn’t be surprised if Reiss is back in transfer rumours; this time with a price tag.
Giving him a new deal makes sense: it allows us to make money on him when we inevitably sell him.
Nelson has no real future at Arsenal. He’s a Walcott-level player who has no place at an elite club with ambitions of winning the Premier League and the Champion’s League.
A key problem last season was our inability to rotate and to bring quality off the bench. Nelson is definitely not the answer. He’s very average, and his injury record doesn’t make good reading either.
But this deal makes good financial sense.
Here comes Qwalitee to tell you we need to keep all our players rather than wanting better ones.
Probably.
The problem with most of the fan base of this club is that they’re too attached to mediocre players. To win the really big prizes we need top-quality players; that means ditching the likes of Nelson, Eddie and Smith-Row and replacing them with world-class performers. It’s brutal but that’s what successful clubs do.
I actually like the above players; but sadly they’re just not good enough.
I disagree on Smith-Rowe in terms of ability. If it turns out he’s physically broken then fair play, but I think he’s better than every wide player in the squad outside of Martinelli and Saka.
The other two are not up to it.
I agree with you. We just have to analyse this season and we’ll see wisdom in your submission. There is need for massive upgrade if we are to overhaul City and make any form of impact in the CL. That should be crystal clear to any objective fan.
I’m not sure about “most the fan base” having this problem. I’d counter this with much of the fan base see the bigger picture. If we are ruthless with our academy players and they don’t get a chance, then what message does this send to our emerging talent? How do we convince the likes of Nwaneri and Lewis-skelly to reject the money that Chelsea will offer them in preference of a long-term career plan? How do we convince the next big youth prospect to join arsenal instead of Chelsea if we behave no better than Chelsea? Let’s not forget that… Read more »
He has really bulked up this season, once he learns to bully players with direct dribbling and strength we could see higher outputs from him.
But I’m most impressed with his attitude change this season of being absolutely determined to be a game changer when he plays. He is so much more direct now and charges at opponents and his shots have venom if still lacking some subtlety
Hold on a second. Does this mean ESR will be sold or used in exchange for Caceido?
I’d rather keep ESR and we get the cheaper Lavia than sell ESR and get Caceido
Gone from rejecting a 1 year deal, to accepting 4 years.
I think his career will stall even longer now.
This will do reiss a lot of good and hopefully shows him how much the club believes in him. Confidence seems to be his biggest obstacle at this point.
I see a lot of comments talking about how this is good because Nelson can be a good “backup” player to the people in front of him, and I wonder if Nelson genuinely sees himself as just that. This man was touted to be the best talent out of our academy in a long time and was dribbling the life out of European teams in the Europa League when he was just 17 or so. The talent is there. The belief seems to be coming back. Do I think he will go on to push one of… Read more »
very happy for him and us!
This is obviously the club prioritising spending in other areas of the squad rather than investing in a new right winger and allowing RN to leave for free.
A sensible decision and good news as long as Arsenal can secure the players they need in the summer.
Cream rises to the top.
Expecting big things from this fella.
He’s a star!
Look, you need players who are rotation players and may not be first team regulars, but who can still make an impact, like Nelson did this season. We’ve got Champions League football to contend with next season, we’ll need everyone who can contribute. I’m more worried about where we’re going with Emile Smith-Rowe.