After years of mediocrity and false draws, Arsenal are finally back among the big boys of the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta has helped transform the club over the last few years with his brilliant management and talent identification.
Alongside Sporting Director Edu Gaspar, the Spaniard has constructed a brilliant squad that looks ready to challenge for years to come and throw out the deadwood that was there just to collect a wage.
However, there are still a few players who should probably be moved on this summer, and based on recent reports, that could happen.
Eddie Nketiah's Arsenal career
One of those players is academy graduate Eddie Nketiah, who's been a part of the club since he was 14 years old following his release from cross-city rivals Chelsea.
GK – Petr Cech
RB – Stephan Lichtsteiner
CB – Carl Jenkinson
CB – Rob Holding
LB – Ainsley Maitland-Niles
CM – Mohamed Elneny
CM – Matteo Guendouzi
RM – Joe Willock
CAM – Aaron Ramsey
LM – Emile Smith Rowe
ST – Eddie Nketiah
The Lewisham-born forward made his initial first-team appearances off the bench in the 2017/18 season but made his full debut the following year against Vorskla Poltava in the Europa League.
Aside from a short loan spell to Leeds United in 2020, the Englishman would slowly make more and more appearances for the Gunners first-team in the following seasons before getting a real chance in the latter half of the 2021/22 campaign after club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was sold to Barcelona.
He would go on to finish the season with an impressive tally of ten goals and one assist in 27 appearances for Arteta's side and earn himself a new £100k-per-week contract in the process – oh, and he also took the legendary number 14 shirt, which, upon reflection, might have been tempting fate just a little too much.
Due to Gabriel Jesus' knee injury partway through last season, the Gunners' new number 14 ended up making 39 first-team appearances across all competitions. While he only managed to score nine goals and provide two assists this time, he did leave his mark, notably against Manchester United.
That brings us to this season, and while fans were hoping he'd once again kick on and really prove his worth as the club's second striker, he has utterly faded away and now sits behind Jesus, Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz in the pecking order.
In all, he's racked up just six goals and three assists to his name in 37 mostly substitute appearances – making journalist Kaya Kaynak's previous assessment of the player as being "disappointing" hard to disagree with.
His lack of impact this season suggests that it's time the club moved on from him, and they could make a good amount of money in the process.
Appearances
168
Goals
38
Assists
7
Goa Involvements per Match
0.26
Nketiah's transfer valuation in 2024
So, if Arteta and Edu were to sanction Nketiah's sale this summer, they'd first need to calculate his value.
A few things contribute to a player's worth, but one of the main ones is the number of years remaining on their contract, which, in this case, is three years. Then there is their record in the top leagues, and while the former Chelsea prospect hasn't quite cut it for title-chasing Arsenal, his record of at least nine goal involvements every season since 2021/22 certainly could attract teams lower in the league.
Lastly, a player is only valuable if there are teams willing to sign them, and based on a recent report from TEAMtalk, newly promoted Ipswich Town are certainly interested in the Arsenal man ahead of their return to the big time.
So, with that, the Gunners have a brilliant chance to offload their unwanted forward and make a pretty penny simultaneously.
That said, there is no mention of how much the Tractor Boys might pay for the 24-year-old, but based on the CIES Football Observatory, he's worth around €40m – £34m – which, based on all of the above and the fact he's homegrown and still young is probably a fair price.
1
Bukayo Saka
€200m (£172m)
RW
2
Gabriel Martinelli
€100m (£86m)
LW
2
Kai Havertz
€100m (£86m)
ST/CM
3
Gabriel Jesus
€80m (£69m)
ST/LW
4
Eddie Nketiah
€40m (£34m)
ST
4
Leandro Trossard
€40m (£34m)
LW/ST
5
Reiss Nelson
€10m (£9m)
RW
It is also the same valuation the CIES place on the massively inform Trossard, who has found the back of the net 16 times in 44 appearances this term while providing two assists to boot, although if he were Nketiah's age, he'd likely be worth a lot more.
Ultimately, while it would be an excellent story for Arsenal to incorporate their 14-wearing academy graduate into the starting lineup, his form just hasn't been good enough for that to happen, so they really should cash in on him while his valuation is still as high as it is.
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