That critic is me. I sat proudly and smugly jumping on the anti-Eddie Nketiah bandwagon, emboldened by the second striker in a week to talk about their future beyond Arsenal. You will have to forgive my blinkered look at the club I love, I admit that it ultimately affected my stance.
Nketiah spoke really well on the Beautiful Game Podcast about his frustrations with his time at Arsenal. Explaining how he had not yet been given a chance by the club to show what he was truly made of.
I, naively and ignorantly, chose not to take this at face value when the 22-year-old was asked questions about how he could compete with Harry Kane and Tammy Abraham for a spot in the England team. I think I might have even allowed a slight satiric chuckle to be made when the comparison was raised.
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Nketiah's brace against Chelsea proved wrong every doubt I had about the player’s commitment. In the lead up to the trip to Stamford Bridge, I had theorised that for Arsenal to remain focused on their top-four fight, fielding only players whose futures were stable with the Gunners was the right move.
I had wildly underestimated Nketiah's, and probably Alexandre Lacazette's, motivation to see the season end successfully. I bring up the Frenchman because despite being on the field for mere minutes, his celebrations with Bukayo Saka after the penalty were not of a player with his eyes elsewhere.
"I feel like I’m at the stage where I’ve signed a contract for five years when I was 18 and in that five years, how many starts have I had here? I went on loan for six months and been here for the rest and I have probably started about 30 games maybe in all competitions," Nketiah explained.
He is absolutely right. I had judged those games based on the context of the singular minutes of each match. Disregarding how he might fare if given a run of games which in those five years has been lacking.
"For me to take the next step and get to where I think I can get to I obviously need to consider getting more minutes and playing. That’s the thinking behind it," he added.
Nketiah will seemingly get his chance for a run of games because, frankly, Mikel Arteta would be mad to drop him this weekend. Manchester United will provide another opportunity for Nketiah to start and hopefully score.
Despite my regret at the short-sightedness I had for Nketiah, it remains my view that he will move on at the end of the season and that it is for the best. For both player and club, a departure would provide Nketiah with the chance to, hopefully, guarantee himself more regular game time.
It would not be a salty departure with the club having extended an olive branch throughout the season in the form of a contract extension. This decision would be Nketiah's to make.
It makes sense for him to move on. Arsenal are almost certain to invest in at least one, but possibly even two, forwards in the summer. If the club invest big money in one or two forwards, the run of games Nketiah has been calling for are sure to be hard to come by.
His story with the Gunners may be ending, but where this naïve writer thought the young striker would, or rather should, not have had a part to play, Eddie Nketiah has set me straight. And I could not be happier to be put firmly in my place. Go get 'em Eddie!
