A lot of fans were not happy when Arsenal announced that they were preparing to offer Eddie Nketiah a new contract in the beginning of the season. The young England striker is contracted to Arsenal until June 2022, meaning if they don’t sign him to a new contract he could walk away for free at the end of the season.

Eddie grew up in the Arsenal Academy, joining from Chelsea in 2015 as a 16 year old and over the years, Arsenal have invested in his development. He made his first team debut when Arsene Wenger was still at the club, scoring 2 goals on his debut. He was always labelled a big talent and that could be one of the reasons why Arsenal are interested in extending his contract. Mikel Arteta has spoken highly of him too and has praised his work ethics he also admitted that he may have got it wrong with him for giving him less minutes this season.

Based on his performance since he joined the first team, he probably does not deserve a new contract because he has not live up to the hype. But at 22 he’s still a young player who need to play and develop. The best scenario is signing him to a new contract and send him on loan to a club where he can play every week. Then asses his progress in the next summer whether he is going to be part of the team long term or Arsenal cut ties with him after his loan.

Some of the reasons why I think Arsenal want to give him a new contract.

1. Nketiah is still young, at 22 he still have a lot of time to develop whether it is at Arsenal or another club on loan. A good loan can improve his value which will give Arsenal the upper hand if they don’t get what they want from him they can still sell.
   
2. Aubameyang left the club in January, and Lacazette is not getting any younger and he could possibly leave in the summer. So that means Arsenal can save money by signing only one striker and giving Nketiah the spot of the other.
   
3. Nketiah qualify as home grown which makes life easy for Arsenal when it comes to registering players.