Eddie Nketiah has galvanized everyone since returning to London Colney from his loan at Leeds United midway through the soon to be returning campaign, finding himself on the score sheet thrice and starting ahead of Alexander Lacazette on multiple occasion.
The 21-year-old is highly rated by everyone at Arsenal and his involvement with the first team has cultivated since his return from Elland Road.
The initial expectations concluded Nketiah being sent back out on a loan after struggling to earn Marcelo Bielsa’s trust at Leeds.
However, Nketiah managed to impress Arteta in training sessions while the Gunners were evaluating options. Mikel decided to keep him in close proximity, monitoring his development firmly and now has big plans for his future.
With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s future undecided, Arteta could hand Eddie more opportunities. The Spaniard started the 21-year-old ahead of Lacazette on three occasion in the Premier League, manifesting of how highly he rates Nketiah.
Mikel Arteta in his pre-match interview for Manchester City clash hinted that Eddie Nketiah is set play an important role over the rest of the season and beyond at the Emirates.
“We treat Eddie as an important part of our squad,” Arteta said in a press conference on Monday. “We had to make an important decision not to let him go on loan again after the spell he had at Leeds.
“I watched him train and I was very convinced he was the right player for us to move us to the next level, that he can contribute in a big way to to the way we want to play.
“He has been fantastic so far.”
When asked about role for other youngsters in the squad, Mikel replied: “In our case we have five games in 15 days, we don’t know how the players will respond physically. We will use them. We have some really talented young boys.
“They’re asking for chances and I’m sure all the clubs will be the same. At some stage we’ll be forced to use some of them with the amount of games we’ll be playing”
