According to The Athletic, Marseille still want to sign Eddie Nketiah but a second offer, in the region of €20 million, remains unrealistically low despite revised payment terms.
It’s understood the striker, 25, is keen to make the move to the Stade Velodrome, where he’d link up with former Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi, and has already agreed the specifics of a long-term contract.
Having sold Folarin Balogun to Monaco for a deal worth closer to €30 million this time last year, the Arsenal board shouldn’t think twice about batting away such a low-ball offer.
The England international has 38 goals and seven assists in 168 appearances for the Gunners having made his debut at the age of 17.
The expectation is that Marseille will return with a new offer in the coming days, one that Canal Plus predicts could rise to €25 million with a sell-on clause.
Fulham, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Everton and Leicester have also been linked with the player this summer; it would make Edu’s life a lot easier if they were to follow up on any interest.
It was previously reported by L’Equipe that Marseille wanted Nketiah on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy.
That’s about 20m euro short of what we should expect for a player like Eddie, especially given the paucity of the striker market this summer. Might be better off with a loan plus obligation to another club in the premier league (ie wolves need a striker, and if west ham don’t sign the German fella they might be interested).
I don’t think we should undersell Eddie as it is important to maintain our valuations, but I gather he’s pushing for the move to France. I think his Arsenal loyalty makes it difficult to stomach playing for another club right now in England, but I imagine he’s looking to make a name for himself in a different (easier) league and then perhaps to return home and play again in the PL. An aging Aubameyang scored plenty last season at Marseille, and I can see Eddie pushing for the golden boot with Mbappe gone. Hopefully something can be worked out (lower… Read more »
We’re not far away from what I would expect. He wants away. Jesus, a Brazilian international premier league winner cost us £45million.
I’d take that 20m in a heartbeat. The market is light for him and he wants away.
+1…if they come back with 25mil I’d bite their hand off…
If you can find a partner willing to pay €40M Euro for Nketiah, then I think we need to ask Edu to step aside for Bobbert. Solid player, but that’s it. And he has barely played. This isn’t FIFA manager mode. If we can squeeze this to €25M plus a sell-on then that’s a really great sale. Ask yourself, if he is truly worth €40M+ like you suggest then why wouldn’t we just keep him and we’d be laughing up top with Kai, Jesus and then Eddie as the rotation. However, we all know we Eddie just isn’t good enough… Read more »
I think it was fine to give him that contract after losing Auba and Lacazette to see if he makes the leap. Two years later I think he’s maximized the talent he has and that is not at the level needed to make an impact at Arsenal. He will be a very good player for a Europa level club.
Absolutely. He’s always been at the margin and potential is there, but reality is now that he didn’t progress like we’d hoped over the last two seasons. I don’t think he has improved much at all in that time. Should be useful in France and if he does take off a bit then the sell-on will be super valuable. But it is telling that all the other “rumoured” teams with interest appear to be just a Fleetwood Mac album…
Tusk?
Meanwhile City are getting 30 million for a 19 year old who’s never played for them. Also, Marseille just paid utd 30 million for a sexual predator who missed an entire season. What am I missing here?
The value of Eddie Nketiah – the player.
Greenwood was just playing the season gone
Yan Couto has been a blue chip prospect for forever. City beat us to him in 2019 because, well, I don’t have to tell you why. This is a several year investment by City paying off now. Part of that overachieving Girona team last season. Still hasn’t peaked. Eddie started as a high end but not elite prospect and has made the most of his talent. Their fees are actually pretty close (hearing 25 from OM will seal it) and that’s a big compliment to Eddie. You wouldn’t have predicted that 5 years ago. Watch some clips of Couto and… Read more »
Also he’s 22
I disagree. Think what it’s gonna cost to replace him with any other forward who’s likely to get more than 10 goals in a season. I’d like him to go, but if price isn’t right, he’s a fine back up to Havertz and Jesus.
On paper Eddie’s CV is an Impressive one, he’s played at every level for us an elite club, played at every level for his country apart from senior but was picked for a squad, U21’s record scorer for his country, the previous season when he came in for the injured Jesus he was very good, unfortunately he didn’t have the break through season we were all wishing for, let’s not forget also he’s been a top professional and a credit to our club, if he does move to the French ligue let’s hope we have a good sell on clause..
Too low indeed but hopefully it can spark other teams into action and bid. If ESR is priced accordingly, Nketiah, with more experience and end product, should potentially be worth similar value although maybe his ceiling doesn’t feel as high
It’s the PL tax. The continent operates on a totally different reality except for the very top clubs.
Eddie has more “end product” than ESR??!! He’s championship level and if we get an improved offer of 25mil then we’d be mugs to turn that down.
I think it is harsh to call Nketiah ‘championship level’ player. He may not be the most exciting striking talent on the market, but he did a decent job for us last season. I think a 25 million euro fee with a sell-on clause is very good business by the club.
Remind me again what he did last season?
Bro…don’t be smug
Obviously, it would have been great to have a few closer to 25m GBP. But if Marseille have to pay the current wage and transfer fee, they’re unlikely to be able to go beyond 17-18. We should have sold Eddie about 2 seasons earlier, but here we are. People know what he can offer and this is fair price for that. If we had sold him earlier, we could have sold him based on a potential higher ceiling. For now, sell him and allot those wages to a player who is going to add end product. Also, this is a… Read more »
Is Greenwood really that much better, notwithstanding his ‘issues’?
How is this even related?
Marseille signed Greenwood just 2 weeks ago for €28m + add on’s so definitely related.
Related because Marseille just paid about £25 million for Greenwood. That despite protests from their own fans and even the mayor of Marseille.
For what it’s worth, I think Greenwood is substantially better than Eddie. Faster, better ball control, more shot power, and has a long shot.
However, Greenwood is a certified massive cunt, so that should count firmly against him on the £ front, and suppose it has in a way cos he looked a proper prospect before his evil transgressions. Anyways, a round about way to have an excuse to call a proper cunt a cunt on the internet.
If Greenwood wasn’t tarnished, he probably would be going for between 70 to 80 million pounds . I think he was that good.
Really interesting… If Arteta is aware of the workload that for example Saliba had to bear,- it would be surprising if he wouldn’t be worrying about the minutes Saka had to play in recent months and years.
But if we are selling Nelson, and Nketiah this summer we will have only 5 attackers for the front 3 positions (and only one of them is a left footed winger)
It means to me that our interest in Sesko could have been very real or there may be some basis for the rumor in connection with Sane.
I don’t see a world where we let Eddie, Nelson and Smith Rowe leave without 1/2 replacement signings. It probably won’t be a blockbuster Nico Williams type but maybe a promising pacey winger to help with load management of first team and offer something different.
Gyokores incoming that’s why
I had the same thoughts. I think we are in need of player sale proceeds to finance further investment, but there is 100% chance of an attacking signing after this. Reading reports that Barcelona are after Dani Olmo. I’d be surprised if they could afford him AND Nico Williams, which leaves us with a clear run at him. Alternately if they do land Williams, we can have a run at Raphinha, who we wanted from Leeds in the summer of 22. We can also see if Rodrygo might want a new challenge after Mbappe’s arrival. Leroy Sane is in a… Read more »
I think the list of available attackers is even smaller as Nico has confirmed he’s staying at Bilbao, Raphina doesn’t want to leave Barca, Sane doesn’t score very much more of a creator these days, Osimhen will likely go at the end of the window. Rodrygo is an interesting thought I hadn’t considered. Regarding Eddie, get what you can for him and move on, his value will not be increasing with another year at Arsenal, it will only go down with a lack of playing time. When you want a player to leave, they don’t have much market value, Eddie,… Read more »
I’ve got a feeling Nelson will stay for now. I don’t think he wants to risk playing in the Championship aged 25 so I’d be surprised if he goes to a promoted team or Forest, and Palace have just signed Sarr in his position. He’d also have to take a pretty substantial pay cut wherever he goes, but especially outside of the PL. According to Transfermarkt his salary would put him as the top earner at every Spanish club except Madrid, Barca, Atleti and Bilbao. He earns slightly more than guys like Oyarzabal, who scored the winner in the Euros… Read more »
Very good assessment – but I don’t think he’d rule out lower level PL teams that may potentially face relegation – he’d likely insert a relegation release clause in his contract so that he could leave if they go down.. Villa did an interesting deal with Cameron archer and Sheffield United
Reiss and Eddie were invisible yesterday. Move them on asap and give their spots to a youngster who will at least
try to press when needed.
If they offer the same as Fulham have for ESR we should bite their hand off.
If we can add a similar amount for Nelson we’ll have a significant sum to reinvest in a player or two we actually want to play.
If we can add 3 players to last seasons squad that we actually trust to play we’ve got a serious chance of success
My prediction is Nelson will be in the 10 million euro ballpark if he goes at all. Eddie about twice that. Then there’s Ramsdale and Tierney but there hasn’t been even a whiff around them so probably a loan, hopefully with full salary coverage… These transfer fees are complex in structure but if all that goes through, we’ve gained 72 million euros in transfer fees, which pretty much covers the Calafiori and Merino transfer fees with a bit left over. Crucially it means we also shed north of 500,000 per week in wages (via subtraction of wages for Ramsdale, Tierney,… Read more »
I think we’ll be lucky to get 30m for Eddie. The difference between him and Flo was that Balogun was coming off the back of a hot season in Ligue 1 having scored 22 goals. Eddie has never posted similar numbers in an admittedly tougher league and at 25 isn’t as young.
Also he’s on 100k a week, so even harder to get a higher fee since his overall cost to Marseille with that wage is gonna be a big one. 25m + sell on clause would be a good ideal imho
A quick check shows his stats were pretty comparable with Greenwoods last year at Getafe. Where’s the 27mil, OM?
The unknown (I’ve not looked it up in any case) is Greenwood’s previous wage. Eddie is on a good package that will be factored in. Who knows, Greenwood may be counting his blessings that anyone wants to pay him anything at all given his baggage.
From what I see on the internets, 1.3 mil difference annually. Greenwoods baggage should’ve knocked his price down though, and although Eddie’s wage is more, his contract was also locking him 2 years longer than Mason (if what i’m reading is right and he was signed til 2027). I think getting the same money from OM for Eddie is very fair.
Ducking take it before they change theie mind.
Since he renewed his contract in June 2022 at @£5m per year. Therefore 2 years 10 mil. Even on current offer it’s an 8 mil profit. If they put add ons and a sell on clause, it’s bite their hand off before they change their mind.
I think they’ll go higher, but I agree, a fee in the 25 million neighborhood will be good business. We need the funds to make an impact signing, so even though this is below market value it gives us cash now and also erases a substantial salary. The more important reason to wait for a better offer though is to protect Arsenal’s respectability in the market. We can’t be seen as pushovers and this is clearly a lowball offer.
Agree. I don’t think we will sweat getting much more than the offer, perhaps as you say up to 25m. I’m glad we are that high, to be honest. Eddie has never had an amazing scouting report or projected ceiling – he’s basically had a couple of nice stretches and been a good soldier. And teams know we are done with him and he wants a fresh start.
Take it!
I remember a few years ago (maybe decades!) there was a run of players who banged in about 50 goals a season in Holland, then came to the premier league and did nothing. It was like they were too good for the step below, but not good enough for the step above. I feel like that’s Eddie. He’ll go to France and score a shit load, like he has done at every level so far. He just couldn’t quite take the final step.
And then there was Luis Suarez. You never really know.
Not sure how that’s relevant. I wasn’t saying that nobody who does well in Holland ever does well in the Premier League. I remember a guy called Dennis who did alright for us.
Not my best thought out comment. I was trying to say I agree with you that projecting player performance between leagues is difficult.
They better lodge up some more. I hear metal detecting the harbors of Marseille is quite lucrative.
Zinchenko remains a costly liability. Salah’s goal is a reminder. Got to get rid of that clown or he could cost us yet another season.
I’m really not sure on what’s about the right value for Eddie. He has experience in the Premier League and Europe but you couldn’t really ever say he’s been prolific as a senior player. He’s certainly had purple patches of form. I suspect he would do very well in France and could grab 20+ goals a season there. He has a good attitude too by all accounts. For some reason I don’t feel we often achieve the “English premium” on our players and that counts for nothing if he moves to France. I’m guessing it’s £25 million for him to… Read more »
If you think what you can buy with 20 million (Euro, not Pounds!), you understand how low that offer actually is. The fact that Marseille want to try us with a sell-on clause just underlines that they also believe it it is low and they expect to make a profit from selling on later.
Let’s not undervalue our players. We saw how Barcelona flipped a 10m profit for a “busted” Aubameyang.