Arsenal News Arsenal opinion

Now will Arsenal fans stop moaning about Nketiah being given a new contract of £100k per week?

A few weeks before his departure from Arsenal as a free agent in the summer of 2022, Eddie Nketiah decided to sign a new deal with the club. After impressing in the last few months of the 2021–22 season, many clubs were eager to sign the Hale End graduate on a free transfer. But because of his love for Arsenal, he decided to sign a new contract.

Giving Eddie Nketiah £100k per week has now made so much sense, despite some questioning his lack of playing time. He stayed at a cost of £5 million per year to the club, serving as a great squad option, making it easy for the club’s other spending priorities on the pitch and their inability to afford a player of his calibre for their striking.
Well, Nketiah could have left for free with clubs lining up for him, but he decided to stick around and fight for his place in the starting line-up, scoring some significant goals along the way. Two years after extending his Arsenal stay, Arsenal stands poised to generate a substantial profit of £30 million.
If it wasn’t for Edu’s genius move, Arsenal wouldn’t have reaped the benefits of signing Nketiah. As I was writing this, Fabrizio Romano claimed that Nketiah had agreed to personal terms with
Nottingham Forest.
The situation (according to personal terms) suggests that Nottingham Forest is really convinced about signing Arsenal’s number 14. Surely the Gunner decision-makers can stick to their guns and hold out for that £30 million asking price before they let the player go.
What do you think?

Jack A

ADMIN COMMENT

So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….

You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.

CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…

More Stories / Latest News
If only Arsenal had had Jurrien Timber fit for the whole of last season
Rosa Kafaji is destined to light up Emirates Stadium with Arsenal Women
Will Arsenal’s outrageous away form be the reason we win the title this season?

Posted by

Tags Eddie Nketiah

55 Comments

  1. Nketiah has been a very lucky boy. Arteta has luvved him for his attitude. But he has been given lots of chances and never really cut it.

  2. It was never a financial issue to me. I still disagree with it on principle – I said at the time we may get lucky here because I’ve always rated nketiah’s attitude, I really think he’s top drawer in that department, and so am not surprised it didn’t go to his head. That won’t always be the case, but however good his attitude is, if he’s being paid substantially more than players who are substantially better than him, I don’t think that’s a healthy environment in the long term.
    I must say, I didn’t expect us to get such a large fee for him. I think forest will be taking a big risk for that amount of money, but good on edu and his team if they have managed to pull it off.

  3. Whenever a player is convinced not to go as a free agent, the only or major benefit of him/her signing a new contract is that what you called, “more substantial than”. If he was not worth it, in value, then can we know why the guy was not allowed to leave and replaced immediately.
    Who knows, maybe his replacement could have won the league for Arsenal.

      1. I would hardly call it a stroke of EDU genius. At the time Nketiah looked as sharp as he ever has, at that time I actually thought he may be good enough to keep. If he goes for 30 million it’s good business and I wish him well.

    2. Replacing him would have cost tens of millions MORE than his new high salary. A replacement cost of 50 million pounds plus this person’s wages? If he had been replaced we would not have been able to afford one of Timber, Havertz or Rice.

      1. @philmar
        I am not sure you got my line of thought, or you are just bringing a different deeper logic. But my comment was a surprise at an earlier comment of the so called substantially paid more than those substantially more better than him. Which to me is a case of perception, a half full or a half empty kind.

        1. Here’s the problem. Most of those complaining and criticising have not put forward what would have been a viable alternative. Any replacement would have come at considerable cost.

  4. Vindicated in the end. People seemed to be under the impression that the contract had hampered arsenal but its about persevering assets.

  5. Nketiah’s contract extension was an astute decision from Arsenal and it will pay off soon

    I’m sure Nelson’s and Ramsdale’s extensions will be worth it too

    OT: Arteta will negotiate his contract extension after the transfer window closes. I bet we’ll win a major trophy with him this season

    1. Agree…..just as Balogun’s was worth it too. Letting saleable assets leave for nothing is dumb.

  6. Why did they not sell him sooner instead of letting the contract run down and then over paying him for a full year.

    Also if they had replaced him last season we might have won the league.

      1. Really? That argument 🤦🏽‍♂️ so no team bought a decent striker or had discussions with one last summer? Stupid logic

        2. It’s more of a pathetic logic. As you have said if no one is available no club in the world would have signed a striker.

  7. It looks like Arsenal will get the fee they wanted for Eddie so that’s good news of course, but the weekly wage he was reported to have received when renewing his contract (it’s £100k in the article, I’ve also seen £77k and £120k reported) is irrelevant in the circumstances.

    I suggest that it would have been relevant if the size of that wage deal had somehow scuppered the transfer – either Eddie sticking to the amount or Forest refusing to pay it – and Eddie wasn’t sold after all, but apparently it isn’t a factor, and the transfer appears to be going ahead.

  8. I didn’t agree with it at the time and I still don’t. He may or may not have deserved a payrise but NOT that much. It was excessive.

    1. It’s not about you agreeing with it but it’s a better decision than loosing him for free. I believe you can admit that.

      1. Chronicle, we’ve paid him, if we agree on £100k a week, a basic salary of £5,200,000 – that’s without any add ons.
        We’ve also paid him since he signed on for us and I believe he was, reportedly, on £60k a week.

        So, what, exactly, did he do to earn that much money and was it really good business, when the club could have either :
        Promoted from within and/or signed a better player.

        I did smile when I read he signed the contract because of his love for the club though – nothing to do with that £100k a week for playing a few minutes of football then?

        1. Ken, we could have promoted Omari who contributed 20+ G/A for Ipswich and got Chelsea 22m after just two substituted appearance for them.

          I don’t know what the fuss about we getting 30m for him. Liverpool just got 25m plus add on and 17.5 % sell on clause for a player i never recall play for them.

          The epl and championship is littered with clubs getting good money for their less known players who were not undeserved wages like Nkeitiah.

          1. I feel the club made a blunder on Omari. I don’t know why l also feel Chido Martin or Mika could have hot us good return on investment of we had kept them for 2 or 3 more seasons

          2. Agree Adiva – we can’t keep moaning about giving players away and then moaning about getting top money for a reserve player.
            But why £100k a week , as reported, was necessary, is something I don’t understand.

        2. As far as I am aware the reports of 100-120k a week included the sign-on fee not separate as you are suggesting as many sources have his weekly wage way lower than 100k. Even if the worst excessive numbers are true, he represented incredible value and great foresight from the club at that point so not sure why there is even a debate on the topic. Should be great business, move on.

        3. The logic is actually simple Ken. The argument is on the new contract he signed not the one before which was rumoured to earned him 100k a week ( not confirmed) .
          Hence, looking at the latest development the decision seems to bear fruit despite being questioned by majority of our fans.
          As for promoting youth players, I believe majority of our youth players are victims of time. Although base on how majority of those that left fair I don’t think we missed that much bar Gnarby

    2. It was excessive due to the resell value, how is everyone missing this? He filled a squad role at significant less cost than bringing in a young gamble replacement and would bring profit overall when sold.

      It was said at the time by myself and multiple others repeatledly every time the topic came up and should be unequivacly obvious and not up for debate now given it is happening with the 30 mil.

      Honestly I despair for humanity sometimes looking at the discussions on this, is just that peoples egos can’t take being wrong?

        1. But what has he done to earn the money he’s received?
          I’m not concerned about whether we get £30 million for him, which, of course, is not a forgone conclusion anyway is it?

          Please don’t despair for humanity just because some people might question your opinion, especially as you said we were going to win the PL last season.
          Just remember that none one of us have got everything right all of the time!! That might help you in your time of despair 🤔👍

  9. Great news if the deal ends up pulling through. Eddie’s a player with a great attitude and always gives his best which of course was not always good enough for a Club like ours. I wish him good in his professional career. I was never in support of renewing his contract then especially with the said wages, but I stopped short of criticizing because I could not tell for certain if it will end up as a bad or good investment in terms of making profits even though I knew he would never be Arsenal’s quality. If he ends up leaving us with profits, it’s would be a job well done financially for Edu, Arteta and all involved, because you need the finance to win trophies.

  10. Just to add, Arsenal giving Eddie the contract was not because they hope or knew he would eventually be Arsenal’s quality, it was purely about investing for profits in a player they new had the quality to play for a team lower than them rather than loose him for nothing which a lot here would definitely have criticized like they did for others at times, hence the vindication the articles implies.

  11. There has to be a balance between Nketiah leaving on a free and improving his terms at the club so that he has a resale value

    I absolutely agree with Reggie that Eddie deserved an increase but excessive sprang to my mind as well

    1. Sue and reggie
      Agree with your views with regards his pay rise.
      Very excessive compared to what he has delivered to date but I would argue on the other side that maybe afc saw him as a short term asset with 100%profitability if they sell him on and can offset that money within the ffp regulations.
      Maybe afc are lucky on receiving that amount from him or maybe that was the plan from the start.
      If this is now we are thinking as a club then hats off to them as for far to long we have given players away on the cheap or nothing.
      We are better off doing it this way rather then the chelski way of selling off carpark, hotels, women’s football team to justify the spend.
      If this is the arsenal way now then may l9ng it continue.
      We won’t get it right all the time but when it works it’s blissful
      Onwards and upwards

    2. It seems excessive at first glance but when players leave on a free to another team they get MASSIVE increase in salary because that team does not pay a transfer fee thus having more funds to entice the new player to sign. So Arsenal had to overpay or risk losing him for nothing.

    1. It looks like we are shedding quite few players who have not made the grade.

      Fabio Vieira always looked lightweight and since he signed Arteta has been more and more keen on signing big lads – who can still play -like Rice and Merino to play in midfield. Havertz was signed as a midfielder too.

      1. Reminds me of the good old days at Highbury when we had all those big, powerful players.

        If we are going to let Nketiah, Nelson, Ramsdale leave, then we need to make more signings, as even with the players I’ve mentioned our squad only totals 23.

  14. We actually did well to get him to sign that contract. It would have made more sense for him to move on at the age of 23, he has not gained much staying for another couple of years.

  16. Probably the best news of the transfer window, besides signing Califiori is Viera going on loan. He only brought disappointment whenever he stepped on the field.

  17. Moaners will always find something to moan about. Logic serves them so they could keep at it, one way or other.

  18. This may or may not have been a “genius move” by Edu, to sign Nketiah for a wage of £100K per week so that he could eventually be sold at a large proffit, but it still does not answer the question of why it had to be that amount, when he obviously wasn’t worthy of such a huge salary.
    Next up will be be: “Nelson was worth every penny”.

        1. The thing is Derek, most clubs do this don’t they! Sign players onto extended or new deals in order to retain their transfer value. Nothing “genius” about it all. If it’s true that Eddie was already on £60K per week, giving him another £40K was not at all “genius”, and I say this as a big fan of Edu.

          1. Jax, his weekly wage went up from £60k to £80k. Then like all free agents he got a signing on fee, £20k, which was paid weekly.

  19. The ease with which these clubs part with their money to give these player’s way over the top wages for what they do is mind boggling.

    Still as they say, a fool and his money are soon parted.

  20. It’s reported that he couldn’t agree personal terms with Forrest, which suggests he’s asking too much. Palace or bust now by the look of it, which would be a better move for him having been brought up in Lewisham, and not a club you would expect to struggle in the PL.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors