Eddie Nketiah is determined to stay and fight for his place at boyhood-club Arsenal, despite loan interest in his services.
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Eddie Nketiah is determined to fight for his Arsenal place next season, and believes the prospect of playing alongside lethal forwards Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang offers the best opportunity to develop his career further.
The 20-year-old started just three games for the Gunners last season and made eight substitute appearances in the Premier League.
With Arsenal player of the season Alexandre Lacazette and Premier League Golden Boot winner Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ahead of him in the pecking order at the Emirates Stadium, Nketiah is likely to be playing a bit-part again in the upcoming campaign.
But despite seeing fellow academy graduate Reiss Nelson impress on loan at Hoffenheim Nketiah, who saw a potential January loan move fail to materialise, is keen to stay put and stake his claim.
“My ideal scenario is to be playing here, I want to play here next season but we have got to see how that goes,” he told PA.
“I am confident enough in my ability that I am good enough to play here so I have just got to work hard and show the manager that I can.
“My aim is to play for Arsenal, that is my goal and has been my aim since I was a kid.
“It is great to have two of the best strikers in the world around you and learn from them every day. I’m just progressing, trying to catch them and make the gap smaller and smaller.”
Nketiah burst onto the scene, scoring 15 seconds into his senior home debut under former manager Arsene Wenger as he netted a brace off the bench to knock Norwich out of the EFL Cup in October 2017.
Few onlookers would have foreseen a 19-month wait for his first Premier League goal, which came in the 3-1 win at Burnley on the final day of last season.
“I was 18 when I scored those two goals and it was great, at that young age not many people get that opportunity or take that opportunity,” he said at the launch of Arsenal’s 2019-20 Adidas home kit.
“I wouldn’t change anything, I have tried my hardest, worked hard and with the chances I have had I have done well.
“Of course I would liked to have played more but that is something that is out of my hands, it has been both managers’ decisions.
“But I have progressed well as a player and I can look back with pride, push on and make sure the coming season is a good one for me.”
Arsenal finished fifth under Emery last season and were beaten by Chelsea in the Europa League final.
Their top-six rivals are likely to invest in new talent this summer but the coffers at the Emirates do not offer the same chance to pay several sizeable transfer fees.
Nketiah believes that presents a chance for a talented crop of young talent to impress Arsenal supporters.
“I think it is really important, over the years it is what Arsenal have prided themselves on, having great youngsters coming through the academy,” he added.
“I think the bunch we have right now, me, Joe Willock, Reiss and the other boys, we are good players for our age and we just have to keep pushing and why not?
“I think the fans would love to see a lot of the young boys in the team week in, week out so come the start of the season, we will all be pushing to get in the team regularly.”
Arsenal, meanwhile, have seen a £40m offer for Wilfried Zaha rejected – leading to heavy criticism from one pundit.
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The post Nketiah name-checks star duo as he makes big call on Arsenal future appeared first on teamtalk.com.
