Probably about 3 years ago I had heard that Nelson was considered the best product of the Arsenal academy since Jack Wilshere.
Would not receive that accolade today or tomorrow!

Edited by Willo (05 Aug 2021 12.15pm)

Speaking to some supporters the other day, they were certainly not enthusiastic about the club acquiring Nelson.

Not sure I see the problem here

At one level you can point to Saka and say yes of course. At another level it simply points to the fact he has fallen down the pecking order but has great talent. It's not as if he's been tried and failed numerous times.

Then there's any number of players who have switched clubs at an early and gone onto bigger things. Gnabry is an extreme case in point. You could even argue for Rak Sakyi from Chelsea as another example here (still to be proven that one of course)

He did indeed get on last night. At one point he joined in with a dangerous arsenal attack at a time when they really needed a goal, and played a lovely weighted pass into space. So much space in fact that there wasn't a single arsenal player anywhere near it, and hadn't been for ages. He may not have had many chances at arsenal, but he's been on loan and done very little. What exactly makes him an asset to us?

Prior to that I watched Chambers, another with whom we have been linked on and off, follow up a needlessly hashed clearance by immediately getting soundly and easily beaten by Canos for Brentfords opener. Arsenals highly rated young forward Balogun was subbed off having had the least touches of the ball of anyone on the pitch. He is apparently considered to be above Nketiah by his club, hence the apparent availability to us of latter.

Overlook the big club 'brand' associated with players we are linked with, and look at what the player has actually achieved. Arsenal have slowly worked their way down into mid table for a reason. Their players aren't very good.

Maitland-Niles, who was our best player at the Emirates last season, is so bad he can't even get into this mid table shower,yet he apparently comes with a £15m and upwards price tag. How? Why? Which test have any of these players passed to establish their value to us?

Edited by TheBigToePunt (14 Aug 2021 10.41am)

To be fair to him he's actually only had one loan, at Hoffenheim when he was about 19 and he had a pretty good time. I think arsenal could be more to blame for his development since - much like Gnabry.

My view is I'd have him but only with a reasonable fee including option to buy. I think he's got the talent to suit us but wouldn't want to nurture him only for Arsenal to benefit. I feel the same about links with United's Diallo (though a purchase is way out of the question there).

As we've got one loan in Gallagher (who I think will be a great addition) who will just be helping in the short term I'd hope the second loan might have a longer term view to it.

I'd argue that we're short in wingers even if both Banks and Rak-Sakyi come good. Ayew cannot play there. So that leaves us just Zaha. 3 players for 2 places is not enough competition/ cover.

Therefore if we're to sign a winger on loan I'd like us to have the option to buy them if they do well for us for the sake of future squad strength.