Eddie Nketiah is set to make an extraordinary U-Turn and sign a new contract at Arsenal despite initially rejecting an offer to stay at the club.
According to The Athletic, the 22-year-old was set to leave the Gunners as a free agent but is now expected to remain at the Emirates Stadium beyond the summer. The report claims he is yet to sign a new five-year deal, which would keep him at the club until 2027.
Mikel Arteta has managed to convince Nketiah that he will enjoy regular game time in the future after he spoke about his ambitions to play more. Crystal Palace and Borussia Monchengladbach were keen on signing the striker after an impressive end to the campaign. The Mail report Nketiah will be handed a £100,000-per-week deal with a £5m bonus on offer over the course of the contract.
Nketiah scored five goals in his final seven appearances, including a brace against Chelsea in April. He managed to cement a place in the side after Alexandre Lacazette picked up an injury, leaving Arsenal with Nketiah as their only senior forward following Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang's departure in January.
Lacazette is set to leave the Gunners when his contract expires at the end of June, which should guarantee Nketiah more minutes next season. He would follow Mohamed Elneny in signing a new deal after the Egyptian midfielder penned a three-year contract on Wednesday morning.
Speaking recently, Arteta insisted he had "clear ideas" of what to do regarding his soon-to-be out-of-contract players. "I will speak to the three players now or tomorrow and after that we need to start to move on," the Spaniard said after defeating Everton on the final day of the season.
Has Eddie Nketiah made the right decision to stay at Arsenal? Let us know in the comments below!
"We have clear ideas of what we want to do." When pressed on if the decisions had been made over Nketiah, Lacazette and Elneny's futures, Arteta went on to reveal that the club had decided their course action with each player some time ago. "It’s been decided but it’s very difficult to communicate it," he added.
Arsenal finished the season on a high after they beat Everton 5-1 at the Emirates on Sunday, with Nketiah, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel, Cedric and Gabriel Martinelli on target. But the Gunners were pipped to fourth place in the Premier League by Tottenham, leaving them with Europa League football next term.
The Gunners were hopeful of qualifying for the Champions League and were in pole position to do so before they fell to back-to-back defeats by Tottenham and Newcastle earlier this month. It was a set of results which saw them fall behind their North London rivals, who snatched fourth.
