Eddie Nketiah’s potential move to Nottingham Forest has lost momentum among their fans after details of his wage demands emerged.
Nketiah is expected to depart Arsenal this transfer window, with the Gunners reluctantly agreeing to let him go.
The striker had previously agreed on personal terms with Olympique Marseille, but the Ligue 1 side failed to reach an agreement with Arsenal.
Bournemouth also considered him as a target after selling Dominic Solanke, but that interest did not progress.
Nottingham Forest is now the latest club to express interest in the England youth international, and Nketiah is reportedly keen on the move.
However, according to Football Insider, the striker currently earns £120,000 per week at Arsenal and wants Forest to match that figure.
This revelation has not gone down well with some Forest supporters, who have voiced their disapproval and urged the club to drop their pursuit of Nketiah.
Given that Nketiah is not a regular starter at Arsenal, such a salary would make him one of the highest earners at Forest.
Talks between Arsenal and Forest are ongoing, and it remains to be seen whether Nketiah will compromise on his wage demands to secure a move away from the Emirates.
Just Arsenal Opinion
Nketiah will have to lower his demand if he is serious about leaving the Emirates in this transfer window.
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Another report mentioned he’d take a paycut, and that personal terms are close/agreed.
Jolly good too
Imo he was never worth the reported salary. Ludicrous sums of money paid to an academy player that hasn’t cut it at CL or top4 level after how many years?? I’m sick of reading how Arteta isn’t bringing through the talent but it actually has to be smacking you in the face first of all.
That the player has some value
It’s the club not the players fault
True words SueP. Nketiah, Nelson etc are the examples they neglect when calling out Arteta for not bringing true any academy player. When these academy players come true like your Nketiahs and Nelson they criticize him for not selling them. What do we fans want?
I’m guessing we want our academy players to prove their worth, before being given reported salaries that make them millionaires in six months, while not having established themselves as regular first team players after being at the club for years.
If we look at the ESR situation, it was said that he was on forty grand a week and, before his injuries, was earmarked for great things at the club.
I don’t think I ever thought that Nketiah or Nelson would reach that level, yet they got rewarded for mediocrity.
I can’t speak for any other fan and I don’t know what goes on at the club, when contracts are awarded, but common sense tells me that someone made a big mistake when awarding such ridiculous salaries… in my opinion.
When it comes to Nkeitah it’s a value proposition he was in the last year of his contract and he had interest from other teams, so they had to incentivize him to stay so that they wouldn’t lose him for free.
Frankly it was a decent decision given he’s now valued at ~30 mil.
Maybe those that watch him at training on a daily basis.. i. e. Qualified, coaches never thought ESR was worth 100k a week.
Imo the reason he got that salary was just because they wanted to avoid losing him on a free. At least that strategy worked out given he’s now being sold for close to 30M.
Good move for him as well.
Agreed, Sue.
I remember lots of the same fans defending him now saying he’s not good enough
fans are not as influential on transfer strategy as they would like to think they are, take note JA big-name big-money striker obsessives
What on earth is that supposed to mean?
Just like you, we are giving our opinions and, just like you, we think ours make sense.
Let’s wait and see what MA does shall we, before trying to score points against each other?
Please get rid of Nketiah. Help Forest pay his overinflated wage.
Forest surprisingly don’t appear to have any issues with paying Nketiah’s wage, but the supporters justifiably think he’s. not worth that much.
Nkeiteah has to think. Sit on the bench at Arsenal for 3 years doing diddly squat or take a pay cut & play weekly? He’s not Gareth Bale coming to the end of his career taking RM for £600k a week. Hope we get rid.
Agreed. Nketiah has had plenty of chances and has not been held back by injuries. He is simply not good enough.
Cannot believe Forest are so thick to give the gunners that amount of money for a bloke who scores once every six or seven games if you’re lucky.
At £120,000 a week do me a favour, ok then how about the Arse buying Trent Bridge for starting at £100 mil down payment.
He’s a good player,he deserves even more than 120,000 a week,I asure you if he’s given a chance arsenal will regret selling him.
We have enough bridges in London, thanks.
No way Nketia can ask Forest to match those inflated wages. Just no way. He must take a pay cut if he wants to play or sit on the bench at arsenal. forest can enable him to sign for a big club if he does well and then ask for big pay
I heard that Eddies wage is closer to 77 grand a week and it has bonuses that could take it closer to 100k
Shhh stop talking sense or these agenda merchants will explode!
The problem is that people will use the figure that suits their argument or point of view about Eddie – like you’re doing, and others are doing in their posts.
There’s no evidence that Eddie’s wages are actually £77k + bonuses. That figure comes from The Salary Sport website (check it out), but how would they know? According to the website: “Press releases, news & articles, online encyclopaedias & databases, industry experts & insiders”. In other words, similar sources to the £100k or £120k a week claims about his salary.
Facts are facts
He scored in 3 league games last season
That’s not good enough
Quite, but I’m not remarking on the merits or otherwise of Eddie as a striker just the use of salary quotes which can’t be substantiated one way or the other.
Personally, I think Arsenal should try and sell him and it looks like Forest may make a bid closer to the fee Arsenal wants (albeit with add-ons). Fingers crossed.
Exactly Break on through. Both Nketiah and Nelson are on £100k a week, of which £20k of the £100k is their signing on fee.
Those wages are a major reason why we always struggle to sell our players.
There need to be a major change on that front.
Despite all the fuss about Chelsea’s transfer policy of signing every Jack, Dick and Harry, the fact they’re mostly on low wage bill make them easy to move on and at high transfer fee.
We need to learn something there.
Chelsea’s strategy is low base wages but a large amount of bonuses and very long contracts so to try and convince players.
That strategy is equally risky though, if the player fails and then struggles on loan, then your still committed to a player for a long time. It just ends up extending the burden on the wage bill into the future.
People let’s stop with this rubbish, football is a business and Arsenal saw nothing wrong with rewarding a player who has been growing and delivering when called upon. It’s time we start rewarding our accademy players, Emile was earning less because he was not playing but if he had followed up from the 2021-2022 season he could have been up there with the club’s big earners and Bukayo is proof of that. If Forest doesnt mind matching Eddie’s salary then who are we to say anything coz if that’s a problem Eddie might as well stay at Arsenal coz we sure can use him for Carabao and FA cup given our hectic schedule and squad rotation this season. And for what it’s worth I think Eddie should have pushed for the Marseille deal atleast with them, they can push for a Europe stop than fighting for relegation like some other club’s. Just my two cents.
I read yesterday he has agreed Forest’s wage terms and clubs now haggling about the fee. There are no actual quotes in the article regarding fans having a dig about his wages, mind you, it’s what we all do anyway don’t we, hardly breaking news?
There’s two things here, either Marseille and Nottingham had no problem of matching Nketia’s salary demands or Nketia is willing to compromise. So I think his salary is not an issue here as some people think, as now 3 teams had no problem in matching his demands (Arsenal, Nottingham and Marseille)
According to Romano he has agreed personal terms with Nottingham, so I guess there’s no issues with wages as the article likes to suggests.
I believe we should let Edu/Arteta do what they think is best for current transfer window and judge them after the window is closed. Scrutinizing them after each and every rumour, will make us look like idiots in the end.
I suspect that Eddie will want regular first team football at his age more than maintaining his Arsenal wage level (whatever that is). The delay is probably down to the fee as usual with Arsenal, and particularly with Eddie, unfortunately.
If so, hopefully the two clubs will agree on a compromise as it would surely be some sort of unwelcome record – certainly in this window – for three clubs (following Olympic Marseilles and Bournemouth earlier) to withdraw from negotiations for the same player because of the fee.
The problem for Arsenal is, as it has been throughout the window, the time that this is all taking. If it’s not buying Merino, it’s selling Eddie or anyone else after ESR come to that. The negotiations appear to go on and on (and on).
This means that in the case of Merino if they were to break down for any reason now – and even more talks are underway in London apparently – there’s little time left for any “Plan B” signing. Likewise, if Arsenal’s intention is to use the “Eddie money” towards buying another player, the time for those negotiations is getting tighter by the day, particularly at the speed Arsenal appear to operate.
It’s been such a terrible transfer season, all that negotiation and stuff that other clubs do with such ease.
So far, it’s not been that great although there’s still time for a late “surge”.
Most other clubs, who have been in the market so far (and some haven’t been much or at all, of course) do seem to have completed most deals quickly, or more quickly anyway. Is there a “Merino equivalent” anywhere in the window? I’m not aware of one.
If you’d asked Gooners at the start of the window (14 June), if on 22 August Arsenal would have signed one player and sold one player in substantial deals (setting aside loans etc.) would that represent good business with a week or so to go, I doubt many would have said “Yes” really. We’ll see what happens though.
yeah there is an equivalent Merino saga = Calafiori
oh and Nketiah
…hang on, i think i spotted a pattern
Eddie should know that he is a footballer, not a bench warmer. Take a pay cut and do what you do best. His current attitude will cause him to ruin.
This is like rubbing salt into the wound, surely we don’t need these reports to fan the flame
Hope this unconfirmed reports is false, surely this does not argue well for the former academy kid.
Merino deal finally done
A lot of the comments here don’t compute for me.
iirc back when Eddie was put on £100k a week (or whatever) it was a choice between him at that rate for 5 years or a backup striker who would cost more than that as a transfer fee, never mind his wages.
If Eddie is then moved off the books a couple of years later so that the 5 years of salary doesn’t actually happen – and makes £30m as an academy product – the whole thing would be great business for Arsenal.
Correct Neutral. Pretty sure it was Anders S that pointed it out.
On the transfer window – two very good buys in Calafiori and Merino. Raya finalised as well.
The top clubs don’t buy a whole lot of players, they have a good squad and make moves on the players that will improve them and they’re relatively rare in terms of ability, experience and availability.
To me, 3 buys is already a lot for a team that finished almost neck and neck for the title last season. Shifting the players that are no longer wanted is just as important – Tierney, Lokonga, Cedric, Tavares, Elneny etc. Each of these aspects of the rebuild project are important.
And if MA thinks the best approach is to play without an out and out striker then I won’t be second-guessing him, he seems to be doing ok without my help 🙂