Nketiah was on the verge of leaving the club on a Bosman, but he signed a contract extension to keep him in the club for the foreseeable future. Nketiah must have thought that his goalscoring exploits at the end of their campaign would have earned him a chance to stake his claim as the club’s alpha dog in attack, and the departures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lacazette certainly helped his cause, but Arsenal signed Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City and Nketiah returned to his deputy role.
When Jesus suffered that long term injury in the FIFA World Cup that sidelined him for the best part of five months, Nketiah got a decent run out, but he began to share minutes with new signing, Leandro Trossard, and eventually, Jesus returned to relegate him back to the bench. Jesus’ injury issues continued last season, but a certain Kai Havertz was favored ahead of Nketiah yet again, and he has been a peripheral figure this season, even though he had his moment in the Sun with that scintillating hat-trick in the 5-0 decimation of Sheffield United.
As at the end of the Premier League campaign last season, Nketiah was further down the attacking pecking order with the likes of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and even Leandro Trossard ahead of him, so the writing was on the wall that he needed to leave Arsenal to reignite his dwindling career. Besides, his close Hale End mates, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson, were seeking greener pastures too, after so many seasons of rotting on the bench. Smith Rowe got his big break and moved to Fulham, scoring some goals in preseason already, and is set to be one of the breakout stars in the League this season, while Nelson remains in the trenches after the supposed interest from West Ham has apparently cooled off.
So you could have imagined the excitement for Nketiah and his representatives when Roberto de Zerbi and Olympique Marseille declared their interest in signing him. The initial offer to Arsenal was rejected and Marseille came back with a loan proposal with an obligation to make the deal permanent next summer, and Nketiah must have prepared his heartfelt goodbye message to Arsenal following the completion of the move.
Unfortunately, the talks between Arsenal and Marseille have broken down, and Marseille swiftly signed Elye Wahi from RC Lens. Wahi is a young home-grown talent that has shown some level of consistency in his time at Montpellier and RC Lens, and at 21 years of age, he will be labeled as a long-term investment for Marseille. He’s also very familiar with the Ligue Un, so no level of adaptation will be required.
As for Nketiah, I’d imagine that he’d be disappointed to miss out on such a move, so that onus will be on his agent to secure a move for his client elsewhere. Hey, Bournemouth has 65 million quid swimming in their coffers after the club-record sale of Dominic Solanke, and I’m sure Andoni Iraola will be looking to buy a new center forward ahead of the new campaign. Nketiah will be a great fit for them, but what’s key is whether Bournemouth would be interested in his services.
As at the time of this blog post, Nketiah remains an Arsenal player and one can only imagine that his chances this season will be few and far between. A move out of the club remains the best option for him, but there is still a lot of time between now and the end of the transfer window for it to happen.
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