Arsenal have confirmed that Reiss Nelson has signed a new long-term contract with the club.
The winger, 23, technically became a free agent at the end of June but has turned down approaches from clubs at home and abroad, notably in Italy, to stay at his boyhood club.
Nelson last penned a long-term contract at Emirates Stadium in 2018 and has since embarked on loan spells with Hoffenheim and Feyenoord.
In total, he’s made 66 appearances for the Gunners, scoring seven goals and making seven assists, and was recently voted the Premier League’s Gamechanger of the Season for 2023/24 for his matchwinning contribution to the 3-2 win over Bournemouth in March.
It’s understood he’s signed a four-year deal and he’ll continue providing cover on the flanks for Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
Our Reiss. Here to stay ❤️ pic.twitter.com/hTROO5YpXB
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 6, 2023
Manager Mikel Arteta is pleased that a player he rates so highly will continue to be available to him.
“Reiss is a player I have admired since the first day I was here,” he told Arsenal.com.
“He has tremendous ability and is such an exciting offensive talent. Reiss knows how important he is to our squad with the quality he has.
“It’s great that Reiss has committed his future to us – he knows this club so well, he grew up here and we look forward to enjoying many more good moments with him.”
I’m interested to see if Arteta really will trust Reiss as backup to Saka. I think not. I think he’ll play Trossard or Havertz there before he starts Nelson.
Arteta is very shrewd at getting value for players. Nketiah and Balogun both almost left for free but he resigned them, only to make them available for transfer shortly after.
I wonder if Reiss isn’t the same. But who knows. I’d love to see him flourish at Arsenal. But I can’t get those tepid Europa League performances out of my mind.
Nelson’s efficiency was great last season. There is a good player in there. He is a more than capable backup in non-crunch games.
It’s so hard to deliver when you get only a few minutes.
True, but that’s going to be his role. And he did ok at it last year. Well, one occasion in particular.
When he did get starts in the Europa he really struggled to make any impact.
Our performances in the Europa League in general were kind of mid, not on par with our league performance. This is why Arteta wants to bring the overall level of the squad up now we’re in the Champions League, Reiss certainly has the talent to contribute as we saw last season.
He doesn’t seem to be at the same level as the others right now but he could get better. Hope so.
He could be a useful squad player either way.
You have to be a bit careful judging people on performances where half the team was changed or we were struggling, to be fair to him.
Difficult thing about being a backup is you have to come in and set the place ablaze every single time which can be unfair sometimes even Saka had a run of bad games, Jesus had games where he didn’t look like scoring. It’s up to Reiss to just keep killing it in training have a good preseason and give Arteta a selection headache.
Don’t agree J4H. At this important juncture I don’t think MA can afford to occupy another squad place with someone he doesn’t want to use and have to pay good wages to, just to make sure there is some future transfer value.
Let’s hope Reiss finally kicks on!
This is good if Arteta really trusts him and is willing to give him serious game time, even if he does put in a couple of underwhelming performances early on
Otherwise this renewal will be pointless, he won’t progress and we won’t be able to sell him, and Saka will be overplayed again
One of our own.
Glad he chose to stay.
I have big dreams about you, Reiss. The first starboy.
Do we want to ask about these dreams you have of RN24…?!
The thing that has changed this year is that we constantly get real news, instead of fake ones, guesses, poo-o meters, blah blah. Well done to all behind this, and get it done, our own Reiss.
Fabrizio single-handedly took down the poo-o meter
We’ll need to introduce a concrete-o-meter
Does it come with add-ons?
Great news, really like Reid’s, though not sure how often he will play. Think the trouble is he is best on the left, but so is Trossard and Martinelli. I think harder for him to shine if rotated in for Saka.
Reiss*
I remember Martinelli had a really good game on the right a year or 2 ago, but I can’t remember who it was against. I think it was at home and he either got 1 or 2 goals.
Don’t think he’s been played there again since
I actually think Trossard played his best for us in the middle, he’s the closest we have to Trossard in style at CF.
Needed to keep him for the handsome quota
Congratulations on the new contract!
Even if Reiss doesn’t kick another ball for us again, he’ll have gone down in folklore for that unforgettable last gasp goal against Bournemouth last season.
He is my star player. Great news!
Great that we’ve tied him down. No way we should be letting academy, pure profit players leave for free.
Reiss Nelson can hit iiiiittttt
We will have good use for him considering the amount of games coming up.
After a few years in the wilderness, its nice to see reiss back in the fold. Last season, and this new contract, will hopefully restore some of the self confidence reiss has been lacking.
Glad he signed. I thouggt we were going to bring in some qatari bloke currently playing in france as back up to saka
Brilliant news! He played really well last season. He is super talented and more experienced now. I am sure he can contribute in these long seasons we play now. He is a great character too, Arsenal through and through and really wanted to stay. Love it.
I BELIEVE IN REISS
More playing time would be beneficial to his career, he could be a real first team star for another club. But if we were in the same position, as Arsenal fans, would we want to leave either? He’s been there since he’s a kid and loves the club.
Time to step it up. He showed how good he could be at Hoffenheim when he was spoken about in the same breath as Jadon Sancho (who has also not delivered on his insane potential at United). There’s a great player in Reiss. He just has to take the bull by the horns now.
Squad player, we know what we’re getting.with him, and sellable down the road like Willock or Iwobe or the Ox: guts who have talent but aren’t champions. Which is fine. Lots of football to play.
I hope he gets some decent gametime within the first 11. Be good to rest Saka and try and ignite Reiss. However, having an impact sub is needed to mix up games. Maybe he fancies his chances as a super sub but I’d like to see him get some starts with the best team around him rather than a disjointed europa outing where everyone is out of sync and rusty.
Our Nicky Butt
I think this move is mostly about securing an asset rather than letting him walk, but I don’t think they would have done that just for the sake of it (see AMN for counter example). I think he flashed enough potential that Arteta is still hopeful that he could develop into a PL level player. Reiss is an interesting profile. He lacks elite speed, is average 1 v 1, as is fairly one footed. But he does strike the ball well, has a strong frame, and is difficult to dispossess. He doesn’t look out of place on the left wing… Read more »
I think prior to Arteta coming in, Nelson was just coasting, Arteta has got him focused and motivated again. He genuinely looks like a completely different player to what he was 2/3 seasons ago. Genuinely hoping to see him improve even more under the Boss and get more game time.