Arsenal could lose ‘extraordinary’ £15m player for free

Arsenal revealed on Saturday that Eddie Nketiah will be sidelined for about a month.

This almost certainly means that despite being linked with a move away from North London, Nketiah will be staying at the Emirates Stadium beyond the end of the transfer window.

And interestingly, it also means that Arsenal may lose the player for absolutely nothing.

The 22-year-old striker is only contracted to the Gunners until 2022 and if they have been trying to offload him this summer, clearly there is no long-term plan to keep him.

Pecking order

Arsenal are also in the market for another striker and if they sign one then the truth is that Nketiah just isn’t going to kick a ball from now until January, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Martinelli and Folarin Balogun already ahead of him in the pecking order.

And it’ll be tough for the North Londoners to shift in the winter if he has only been playing reserve football since returning from injury.

As a result, Arsenal, who put a £15 million price-tag on the player in June amid speculation of a move to Watford, may have little choice but to accept the strong possibility that he’ll exit the club as a free transfer in 10 months.

Mikel Arteta labelled the young marksman as ‘extraordinary’ last summer, but either way this announcement about his injury may end his career at the Emirates, whatever way you look at it.

In other news, ‘Whoever knows you’: Lamela has responded to Harry Kane’s statement about Spurs training