Transfer Centre

Mikel Arteta keen for Eddie Nketiah to stay at Arsenal

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 26 October 2021

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wants to see Eddie Nketiah pen a new deal with the club after his goal in Tuesday's EFL Cup last-16 win over Leeds United.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has insisted that he wants striker Eddie Nketiah to stay at the club beyond next summer.

The 22-year-old has not played a single minute of Premier League football this season but chalked up his second goal in two EFL Cup games against Leeds United on Tuesday night.

Nketiah was widely linked with an exit from Arsenal in the summer before staying put, but he has now entered the final 12 months of his deal with the North London club.

Arteta wants to see the striker put pen to paper on a new deal, though, telling reporters: "We had a situation in the summer that we tried to resolve and we couldn't either way.

"That is the contract situation that is more and more common in football for where we are coming from with Covid and a lot of the issues that we have to resolve.

"I have full belief that he is going to be a top, top player and hopefully at Arsenal. I'm happy to have him, he is our player, I regard him really highly and from my side I want him to stay."

Nketiah's scuffed finish against Leeds was his 15th from 67 games in all competitions for Arsenal, with the striker's goal coming after Calum Chambers broke the deadlock with his first touch after replacing Ben White, who left the pitch through illness.