Eddie Nketiah’s possible move to Nottingham Forest has made progress, as the Arsenal player has reportedly agreed to personal terms.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah seems more likely to join Nottingham Forest, stating that the player has accepted a contract offer from the Premier League team.
Nketiah Nearing Departure
Even after inking a fresh long-term deal in 2022 following a season where he netted ten goals, Nketiah has stayed on the edges at Arsenal. He got the nod to start just ten Premier League matches in 2023/24 – with zero starts after New Year’s, and warmed the bench for the 2024/25 kickoff last weekend. At 25, Nketiah is no longer a young prospect anymore and seems to have no option but to leave if he wants to get consistent game time.
Eddie Nketiah almost moved to Marseille earlier in this transfer window, but the clubs could not agree on his price, which allowed him to stay for the time being. Marseille tried hard to sign him, making three offers that Arsenal turned down, with the highest bid being £23 million. Many fans criticized Arsenal for being too tough in negotiations with the French team. But now that Nottingham Forest have made an even better first offer, it seems Arsenal were right to hold out for more money.
Even though Arsenal turned it down, people thought Forest would come back with a better offer, and they did. If this deal goes through without any issues, it would be a great move for the Hale End graduates. Emile Smith Rowe also left the club for about the same amount, making £70 million for our academy stars, which is quite the profit for the club.
Despite rumours about several options and it being maybe the only missing piece, Arsenal did not sign a central forward this summer. Kai Havertz played as the ‘number nine’ against Wolves and did well after having a strong finish to the last season too.
Read More: – Manchester United are chasing a new midfielder, previously targeted by Chelsea
Forest Ready to Welcome Nketiah
Forest were among just four Premier League teams last season that did not reach 50 goals in the 38-game campaign. Their lack of options up front became clear when Taiwo Awoniyi was out due to injuries. In Saturday’s 1-1 tie against Bournemouth to kick off the new season, experienced New Zealand striker, Chris Wood was in the starting lineup and scored a goal. Awoniyi came off the bench later in the match.
Forest have kept an eye on Eddie Nketiah for some time and wanted to sign him in the latter half of 2019-20 after the North London team called him back from his loan at Leeds United. The one-cap England International did not want to earn less wages than his present package to join the City Ground club, which made talks tough due to this and how long his contract runs at the Emirates Stadium club.
Because of this, the 25-year-old still needs to work things out with Arsenal before a deal can go ahead, but people think this will not cause problems after both clubs came to an agreement. Arsenal had first decided to keep him for the rest of the season, but now he’s close to leaving for good.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard to pick from up front, but he might look to bring in new blood in that area when Nketiah leaves. A deal for Napoli’s Victor Osimhen is said to be back on the table. Atalanta’s flexible forward Ademola Lookman has also popped up as a potential signing after his move to PSG fell through.
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