The Arsenal hierarchy had a clear strategy when it came to their summer transfer window: offload players on the periphery of things and sign high-profile replacements.
Edu and Mikel Arteta didn’t necessarily want to increase the size of the Arsenal squad, they just wanted to fine tune it to improve the depth of quality available.
Unfortunately, that meant selling some very popular personalities in N5, a lot of whom were graduates from the Hale End academy.
Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe both left, as well as Aaron Ramsdale who also felt like part of the Emirates furniture at this point of his career.
Although the trio were deemed surplus to requirements in north London, all three are excellent talents, players who still have so much potential to improve.
And Nketiah is already proving so at Crystal Palace.
Arsenal favourite Eddie Nketiah grabs his first goal for Crystal Palace
Nketiah made his Palace debut against Leicester City on the weekend, almost playing in a right-forward role beside Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta.Nketiah impressed Gary Lineker in his display, even if he wasn’t quite able to grab his first goal.
That being said, that moment came on Tuesday evening when Nketiah put Palace ahead away to Queens Park Rangers in the EFL Cup.
The former Arsenal forward, who Palace paid £30m for this summer, played 65 minutes and scored the opening goal – a low driven shot that had too much pace for QPR’s keeper.
Nketiah’s celebration was then as familiar as his finish – pulling out his goalscoring phone by the corner flag.
Following the game, Nketiah took to Instagram to celebrate the moment, uploading a post with the caption: “The line is now open, looking forward to the next round!”
Jurrien Timber, Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Eberechi Eze all then replied – a very popular figure in both north and south right now.
Viktor Gyokeres scores on Champions League debut
Arsenal didn’t replace Nketiah this summer, seemingly deciding that the right opportunity wasn’t quite available.
However, Arsenal may return for Viktor Gyokeres in January according to reports.
Gyokeres is continuing to score an Erling Haaland level of goals, and the Sporting CP grabbed his first in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
And whilst Nketiah is thriving elsewhere himself, perhaps Gyokeres may soon be competing against the striker in the Premier League for Arsenal.
Kai Havertz is certainly going nowhere at the Emirates, but it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if Arsenal soon looked to move on Gabriel Jesus and seek an upgrade.
