French side Nice are interested in signing Reiss Nelson from Arsenal, it's been claimed.
The 23-year-old winger was the hero of Saturday's dramatic 3-2 comeback victory at home Bournemouth by scoring a 97th-minute winner to keep Arsenal five points clear at the top of the Premier League table. The Gunners are now understood to have opened contract talks with their academy graduate, who's on course to become a free agent this summer when his current deal expires.
Nelson's situation has piqued the interest of multiple European clubs, including Nice, who are owned by would-be Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe. As the founder and chief executive of chemical giants INEOS, Ratcliffe has tabled a bid for boyhood club United which is believed to be worth at least £4.5billion, but he's still seemingly committed to his project in the south of France.
According to CBS Sports, Nice are prepared to swoop if Arsenal and the former England under-21 international fail to come to an agreement and part ways in June. Nelson's Gunners team-mate, Nicolas Pepe, has been spending the season on loan with Nice and the Ligue 1 outfit are no strangers to acquiring UK-based talent.
Ex-Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey, Ross Barkley, Kasper Schmeichel and Joe Bryan all joined Ratcliffe's club last summer. Nice currently sit seventh in the French table, nine points adrift of local rivals Monaco - who they recently beat 3-0 away from home - and are chasing Champions League qualification.
Since sacking manager Lucien Favre in January, former Nice B boss Didier Digard has done a superb job by going nine games unbeaten, winning six of them. Adding Nelson to the mix would no-doubt boost their hopes of a European finish next term, while potentially offsetting the departure of Pepe if he returns to Arsenal.
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As for the Gunners' stance, they'd like to keep Nelson at the Emirates but won't pay over the odds after his peripheral presence in the first-team over the past few seasons. Having spent last term on loan with Dutch side Feyenoord, Nelson has only managed to make eight senior appearances this time out, during which he's scored an impressive three goals and registered three assists.
Manager Mikel Arteta was delighted with his vital contribution in Saturday's sensational win and believes that now is the time for Nelson to prove his worth. "I always saw the potential," Arteta said of the forward, who's only played 21 minutes of competitive football since the World Cup break due to injury.
"The talent and the desire for him to do it, but he’s at a different level right now. I think emotionally, the experiences that he had helped him. Football-wise, it was my decision in the last two games not to play him because we had other options. But he was knocking on the door, he's been training really good and it's a good lesson for me and for the coaches that we need him and that he can be really important for the team."
