LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 01: Reiss Nelson of Arsenal runs with the ball during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Norwich City at Emirates Stadium on July 01, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Mikel Arteta has revealed that Reiss Nelson rejected a loan deal and decided to remain at Arsenal (source – Daily Mail). The club wanted to send the player out on loan in the summer but Nelson decided to stay back and fight for his place in the team.
The 20-year-old English forward is a product of Arsenal’s youth academy. He started his youth career there in 2007. He spent most of his youth career there progressing through the ranks before being promoted to the U-18s in 2015.
While he was in the U-18’s, he made 9 appearances, scoring 4 goals. While he was in the U-23s, he was often called up to the senior team for sporadic appearances. He went on feature quite a few times during the 2017-18 season before being loaned out to TSG Hoffenheim the following season.
A rather successful stint at Hoffenheim followed with 29 appearances, 7 goals and one assist. On his return, he was promoted to the senior side. So far, he has made 41 appearances for the senior side, scoring and assisting three goals each (source – Transfermarkt).
A regular for the England youth sides, he is currently a part of the U-21s with 12 appearances and 6 goals.
While it is admirable that a player wants to stay and fight for his place in the team, there are times when that can easily backfire. This could well be one of those cases. Nelson broke out as a talented forward under Arsene Wenger and had high hopes for him.
It would be wrong to say that he hasn’t done well over the last few seasons but the fact remains that he does not have enough to break into the first-team at this point.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette and Willian are the first-choice forwards in the squad. There are absolutely no chances that Nelson will be preferred over them in league games or big European games.
The only games Nelson is likely to get are domestic cup games and early Europa League games. He can say that he wants to fight for his place but the above-mentioned names are clearly a cut above him in terms of ability. Arsenal are in a rebuilding stage and cannot afford so much time to players like Nelson.
Yes, he did put in a fantastic performance in the Europa League game yesterday but that’s that. This is a season he needs to be playing regularly and not just feature in cup games.
Clearly, he made a mistake by rejecting the loan deal and could face a spell on the bench with just the occasional match to be called up to.
