David Ornstein reports that Eddie Nketiah is set to undergo a medical at Crystal Palace ahead of a potential £30m transfer to Selhurst Park.
The striker had been previously linked with Marseille and Nottingham Forest this summer, coming close to a move on both occasions, but it looks as if his future will now lie in South London.
Nketiah was kept around last weekend after Gabriel Jesus suffered a groin injury, but didn’t get off the bench during our 2-0 win over Aston Villa.
If and when this deal goes through, he will be the latest high profile departure from the squad this summer, following Emile Smith Rowe’s move to Fulham, Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga going on loan, and it should also be followed by Fabio Vieira rejoining his former club Porto for the duration of the 2024-25 season.
Arsenal still have to sort out the Aaron Ramsdale situation, with Southampton and Wolves still considering a loan for the former number 1, and it remains to be seen if there will be a further attacking addition ahead of Friday’s 11pm transfer deadline.
The Gunners have added Riccardo Calafiori and completed the permanent transfer of David Raya this summer, while Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino is set to be announced after he completed the formalities of his deal over the weekend.
I see people fighting a lot about Eddie. Some fans think he’s fantastic. Some think he’s utter rubbish. I believe the truth is that Eddie is a really good striker. But when the ceiling raises, the floor raises. Two years ago Eddie was a perfect backup to Jesus. Now Jesus is a great backup to Havertz. This is how you get better. This is progress. David Luiz did a job for us. But put him in this current Arsenal iteration and he would look woefully out of his depth. Same with so many of the players that we relied on… Read more »
Agree totally, though we need.to boost our attack if Jesus is out long. If we get other injuries we will suffer.
Good luck to Eddie, was hoping he’d get to the standard we need now.
We just need a pacy 21 year old who can play WF or CF who understands Arteta’s system and can have an immediate impact. Plus, we don’t want to pay silly money or wages.
I mean, seriously. How hard can that be to find in 4 days?
Pull your finger out, Edu!
Should be easy. Now I am worrying who we get though. If the idea is to raise to floor, I’ll be very disappointed if we get an older injury prone player on high wages. I do hope we aren’t looking across at smith Rowe and Eddie in months ahead and regretting letting them go. Sterling, coman, chiesa aren’t filling me with optimism. It’s not arsenals fault for showing their hand but now I want a sesko or williams alternative
Saw ESR’s goal over the weekend. Why did Arsenal let him go?
I wondered that myself. There must have been something Arteta didn’t like (obviously).
I’m just not sure where he plays for Arteta’s Arsenal.
We tried him as an 8 but he wasn’t defensive enough. He had a game or two as a 10 but lacked Odegaard’s final ball. Out wide he always looked a little anonymous and isolated.
Fantastic player. But I think you need to build your team around him. And we just have too much talent to do that.
Agreed
He plays on the left of the attack. That’s where you get his best. People forget he was keeping Martinelli out of the side before. He has end product. He progresses the ball well. In my opinion he should’ve been the rotational option for Martinelli, keeping both on their toes. But Trossard’s arrival basically killed that because he offers the same. He is older too, at his peak and with a better fitness record. In a couple of years he’ll lose a yard of pace and if ESR maintains fitness and shows how impactful he is, we could yet see… Read more »
He’s good (he sold for 25m or whatever it was after all) and is going to be a focal point for a middling Fulham team, and they were playing just-promoted Leicester. If he stars against top 6 teams we can talk about. having qualms.
He needed to get out of his comfort zone and he needed to play. He has a point to prove at a new club. It’ll be interesting to assess him in six months time.
…provided he stays healthy, which he has not managed for a couple of years now.
Well said. I loved it when Clive said similar on the Arse cast: he’s been a massive success for a Hale End kid and lived the dream.
Made a genuine contribution to a side that got EIGHTY-NINE points and if it weren’t for C115y we’d all be remembering him in same way we do Reyes or Wiltord.
Thing is why do we feel the need to castigate a player that has scored some very important goals and is a academy graduate. He doesn’t bitch about not playing or that he is world class, does his job when called upon. His limitations as a player are obvious, but that he is at this club still is down to the club and not just him.
Well said! But if Kai gets injured then we have a crisis at centre forward(Jesus is concurrently touch and go) and there are too many matches to play…weaker back up players ruining our chances of cup success last season…feels like we’re a striker short(at least one that can play across the front 3)…A diogo jota type..i would consider enrico chiesa..saka cant play 60matches again
We have our Jota type, The Tross, and he’s even better. But we’re definitely short in the front line. A versatile RW/ST is basically a must now.
Solid player, really great finisher and poacher. Good lad too. However, if he is to succeed at palace he needs to, first and foremost, work much harder off-ball and learn how to press as a team player and not an individual. That’s a big weakness, particularly in the EPL that plays at such a high tempo and basically all teams now rely on forward third turn overs from hard-working forwards. And then he has to be able to hold play up with back to goal. Palace play on the counter and they will need Eddie to play the connector role… Read more »
Eddie Nketiah is a “really great finisher”?! You’re having a laugh mate. He’s championship level and couldn’t hit a barn door from 5 yards. If we get this palace deal over the line it will be our best summer deal easy! I love all the “so sad to see him go, he was a great lad and player for us all these years…” sanctimonious bs…same dudes castigated him for years…hypocritical as fk. Nketiah should never have been given that extension and has been a flop for Arsenal for a very long time. All that said I wish him good luck,… Read more »
Tell us what you really think.
I don’t think he’s good enough for Arsenal, I’ve said so in the past and said literally in the post you’re replying to why I still think that (he’ll be a bit part player at Palace unless he can improve his defensive work/pressing capacity and hold up play). However, he’s a quality finisher and makes great runs and has great positioning in and around the box – those attributes I recognize and appreciate with Eddie, but they aren’t enough for Arsenal (and probably not even Palace) without improvements in those other areas.
The contract extension was to protect a £30 million asset. It’s mind-blowing how many people fail to understand that and whine about the club making a decision which will almost certainly prove to be profitable.
Hope Ramsdale gets a team like Atletico, PSG, Dortmund or Chelsea not the Southampton or Wolves of this world.
Mate Ramsdale is a great lad and a really good player, why do you wish him Chelsea ?
Well, not too likely anyway. They have the most expensive goalkeeper in history as their (I think) third-choice.
Because his value is £20m. Which means Chelsea will pay £55m.
In fairness, I assume Ramsdale could go to Chelsea if he wanted. Everyone can. I got my 18 year contract from them this morning. We’ve all got one I think.
That was awesome, Johnny 4 Hats.👊🏾
I regularly enjoy your comments, Johnny, but this might be the best. Well in.
Well said
Great move for him and great fee for the club.
Apologies for my ‘greedy twat’ post when NF fell through, was lashed and surrounded by Chelsea fans all day, but still, no excuse !
Hope he does well and wish him all the best, now let’s get a replacement 🚀
Ya I saw that post of yours and I think its unbelievable how people can make a judgment on someone character with basically no information.
I hope you learn it and take it easy, especially with young academy who given up so much to maximize their short careers.
I eachobyour statement all the time, especially on Twitter. How tf are “fans” judging and piling on players, managers, owners, sporting directors etc without having a clue what is going on behind the scene? They make posts with BOLD and LOUD absolute statements like they work with the club or something. It baffles me so much. One was complaining yesterday how Eddie blocked him because he had “predicted” that he would go to Palace eventually. Social media has affected football negatively for real, and it’s one of the reasons Saka is getting bullied, too. People just drop stupid narratives and… Read more »
Life advice to not only professional footballers, but everyone. Stop using X/Twitter.
Or if you use it, curate with discipline. I follow a handful of content creators, deep thinkers and bonafide ITK types around Arsenal. Immediately discard trolls and trollish behavior. Do not use the “For You” tab. Do not search “Arsenal.”
For real. Especially now, with all the rubbish Elon has allowed on the app… It has gone to shit. I deactivated my account yesterday and it will stay so for a while.
Even by social media standards, that place really is an absolute cesspit. There’s literally nothing about it that makes it worth using. All the Arsenal news worth reading is reported on here anyway. Can’t understand why anyone uses it.
I wouldn’t have found guys like Billy Carpenter otherwise. Gotta keep it really focused or it degenerates quickly. There’s a good community of content creators and the platform makes them easy to access.
Change your tense to the past and I’m with you; sorry bro, X/Twitter is done… Elrond and his Musketeers aren’t interested in things like content creators anymore. It is his personal misinformation machine; straight outta Steve Bannon’s playbook: “Flood the zone with shit” and removing all control and censorship. Add to that controlling the algorithms to ensure people see those overloads of misinformation and extremist propaganda (and not the content they are interested in and previously received) and it becomes a cesspoll of hate, trolling, prejudice and so much misinformation that no-one has any idea what is actually true any… Read more »
Elrond? Plese don’t ruin the name for me.
The other Elrond – the space alien guy and the newest LOTR series already did that…
Not for me. I stay the hell out of the news and keep my head buried in fiction.
Good fee for us & in my opinion, he’ll be going to a better team with a better manager.
Also, quite refreshing to see someone online change their take when they’re presented with new info.
A much better move than Forest imo, think he can do well there provided Glasner can accommodate him and Mateta in the same lineup. Good luck Eddie!
Reports say that Glasner reached out to Eddie’s camp asking him to delay a move to Forest.
Palace may end up playing a 3:4:1:2 with Eze behind Mateta/Eddie in a majority of their games.
I was thinking that might be their formation going forwards
Wish him all the best. This transfer is late by 2 years. Nelson should go too. We need an upgrade for both players. With Vieira going to porto, we will be short on the bench and cup games. Hopefully some of the academy players will get some minutes now.
Really glad for him. He grew up in Brockley, and played in the same parks as Wrighty and Rocky once did.
Palace is his local team and I’m buzzing for him.
Great but I hope we get a new forward in so add to our squad depth to make us stronger and competitive
All the best, Eddie, and thank you very much.
All the best to him. Except when we face them.
Really takes some courage to step back and launch his career and I hope he establishes himself as the starting striker.
Good luck to him. I hope he scores lots of goals and proves a lot of people wrong.
The optimist in me thinks we must be relatively confident of another attacking acquisition having lost Eddie, ESR, and Vieria. It just seems like a bit of a step backwards in squad building otherwise that I don’t believe Arteta would sanction.
Hopefully an exciting few days ahead!
Yes, we’ve lost those three and ‘gained’ Nwaneri. Defence is stacked, with Merino in then central midfield looks strong. Frontline looks a player short. Hopefully it’s addressed.
More money for Arsenal
Better run club than Forest.
A few miles from where he grew up.
Palace gave us Ian Wright!
Everyone happy!?
As somebody living in Croydon for 15 years, I always keep an eye on Palace, and wanted Emile to come back home. Good move for Eddie and Palace
Just wanted offer my condolences for those 15 years spent in Croydon
I live in one of the nicer parts of Croydon and whenever I leave West Croydon station, I turn left😉
Well, how fun the “Nketiah’s Forrest move is off” comment section was – and by fun I mean in some cases absolutely necessary and disrespectful.
Good luck, Eddie!
… and by necessary I meant unnecessary. 🙃
There is a nice apology by Uzesgooner on this thread.
I think there was a WTF! moment as panic set in, given our apparent 1 in 1 out policy and an injury to Jesus.
The entire human experience was on display in that thread
Just like the “Partey is finished, sell him” lot
If we could get one attacker out of Coman, Gyokeres, Raphinha who do you choose?
Nico Williams
Barcelona are not letting Rapinha go at this point. He seems to be crucial to Flick’s system — they are using him as a “fluid 10.”
Imotep is invisible
Probably Gyokeres, he would give us something different.
I’m with you, it would be a risk, there’s no guarantee his goal scoring translates. But I think another finisher is in order. I flat out dislike Raphinha and I agree Coman feels like on the decline.
Raphinha would bring immediate premier league impact.
Gyokeres is the one with the biggest upside but it’s a huge step from Portugal to premiere league.
Coman should not be on a list with those guys. At 28 he is at the end of his physical prime as a winger, his salary is exorbitant and he is coming off a major injury. I would only contemplate getting him on a loan with very favorable terms. Who should Arsenal get is a difficult question because our first choice forwards are already very good. A younger profile (like Assane Diao) is not ideal because you want an immediate game changer who can come off the bench, like Trossard, not a project who hast to play to develop. A… Read more »
The thing for about coman is he won a lot already. So he will not be hungry Asa Trossard.
That Gyokeres fee is quite eye-watering. Not sure it’s in our budget.
Suspect if we do anything we do a loan or go for someone like Skov Olsen.
They’ve done a good job keeping the press from sniffing out who the replacement forward is gonna be.
Because there’s definitely one coming in, right?
I love the work Edu and co have done thus far, but if we don’t see at least one high quality forward signing (not a desperate Sterling punt), then we are talking about gross negligence. We are one injury away from zero options. Happily, I am quite sure the transfer team have a surprise or two in store before the window closes, but they sure are making me sweat.
Out of genuine interest. What do city do if Halland gets injured.
Cheat.
I guess he will just go back into the workshop for routine maintainance, unless its something more problematic like faulty processors.
They send him back to his home planet for a replacement.
Seemingly they’re interested in some Danish forward. Other than that, they’ve got a few guys that can do the false 9 thing.
Foden as False 9
All the VERY best at Palace, Eddie!! Thank you for your service to The Arsenal. May you prosper!!
Arsenal “selling well” was always going to be down to the quality and value of the players we are selling. ESR and Nketiah, academy products, for a combined fee of £60m, is good business.
An upgrade on Nketiah and a support for Saka (hoping Nelson goes) would this a near perfect window all things considered. If Ramsdale finds a new home and a second keeper comes, that would be the crown of it all.
That Man United game will stick in my memory for a long time. Can’t beat a last minute winner. Good luck to him. Good player, I think he’ll do pretty well and be a consistent 10-15 goal a season striker if he is the main man at Palace.
Wishing the best for Eddie at CP.
Predicting 15 PL goals.