Arsenal repeat Nketiah mistake: Arteta's summer business in jeopardy

Tom Weber

Updated: 16 Aug 2024 05:54 CDT
4 min read

Arsenal have priced Leicester and West Ham out of a move for Reiss Nelson, according to a report.

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If the summer transfer window were to close now, Arsenal's business would be regarded as good but not great. To be sure, the Gunners have permanently signed David Raya and pulled off the coup of landing Riccardo Calafiori.

However, one of the biggest priorities ahead of the window was signing a midfielder and a striker and neither has so far materialised. Arsenal are advancing in talks with Real Sociedad over Mikel Merino, with sporting director Edu personally in Spain to complete the deal and the player pushing for the move.

But it is thought that Arsenal will have to eventually seal another outgoing to afford Merino without any potential complications, though they may be able to sign him first and then offload someone. Arsenal have already sold Emile Smith Rowe for a whopping €40 million, but this is not enough.

Indeed, the Gunners also want to add a striker still, but the prospects of this materialising are growing increasingly slim.

Arsenal struggle to sell

With two weeks to go in the window, Arsenal are more and more scrambling to sell players. While Mikel Arteta is largely happy with his squad and not desperate to bring people in, he would love to further upgrade his team.

This, however, is proving difficult because the Gunners are playing hardball when it comes to selling players. Eddie Nketiah's transfer to Olympique de Marseille has collapsed despite Arsenal eventually lowering their demands to €30m.

But after multiple rejected bids, Marseille eventually moved on and signed Elye Wahi instead. Nketiah is ready to take a pay cut to seal a move, FootballTransfer understands, and he has no shortage of suitors, with clubs in Germany, Italy and England - Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace - all interested.

The problem is that even at Nketiah's 'reduced price', clubs are reluctant to engage with the Gunners. €30m for a third-choice striker - even at an elite club like Arsenal - is deemed excessive by any reasonable sporting chief.

And now, Arsenal are facing the same problem with Reiss Nelson, another player willing to explore his options after struggling for minutes. Leicester City and West Ham had been keen, but both were priced out of a move, according to Ben Jacobs.

Arsenal are sticking to a valuation of around €17.5m, which isn't a ludicrous amount, but it is still too steep for clubs to be willing to take a punt on a player who has played just 1321 minutes of Premier League football across six seasons.