Arteta warned ‘incredible’ £100k-a-week player really ‘doesn’t fit’ his Arsenal system

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Arsenal look set to sign a new striker in the summer transfer window, and this will likely spell an end for Eddie Nketiah’s time at the club.

The 24-year-old started the season superbly, but his goals and appearances have dried up in recent months since scoring a hattrick against Sheffield United, and it seems likely that he will depart in the summer given interest from several Premier League sides.

Nketiah has scored five and assisted four times in 24 Premier League appearances this season, but just 10 of these appearances came from the start.

The attacker was rewarded with an England call-up after his strong start to the campaign, and he has been excellent at times in the last two seasons, but there is a case to be made that his quality cannot fully shine in Mikel Arteta’s system.

Eddie Nketiah not the right fit for Mikel Arteta

Speaking on The Gooner Talk Podcast, journalist Tom Canton claimed that despite his quality inside the box, Nketiah’s all-round play is unsuitable for what Arteta wants from his strikers compared to the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.

“For me, Eddie Nketiah is a player that I’d describe as, if you get the ball to him in those six-yard box areas, he’s good,” he stated.

“He’s not world-class, but he’s very good usually. It’s everything else to do with Eddie Nketiah’s game which doesn’t fit in this philosophy and system, and I think he’d be better suited to a Brighton or a Bournemouth or a Brentford type team.”

Eddie Nketiah could shine away from Arsenal

There is a very plausible scenario that Nketiah moves to a different Premier League side this summer and his record in front of goal explodes.

Arteta has previously described him as “incredible,” and when he was rewarded with a £100k-a-week contract, it was after he played himself into the side with some spectacular performances in 2022, which included a brace in a victory away at Chelsea.

Nketiah is a striker who thrives in the six-yard box as a poacher, and whilst his all-round play has improved in recent seasons, it is still perhaps not at the physical level of Havertz or the technical level of Jesus.

When he is substituted on, he rarely finds himself on the end of chances in the closing stages of games, and his lack of opportunities from the start now means that his development will likely be stunted if he continues on the bench next season.