Eddie Nketiah is actually 24 years old and has been around the block for a while, making his first appearance seven seasons ago. In 142 games for Arsenal, Nketiah has scored 34 goals, with his highest haul coming in the 2021/22 season, where he eventually displaced Alexandre Lacazette from the first team and got an extended run of games.
Nketiah was odds on to leave on a free transfer at the end of that campaign but he chose to sign a contract extension, and harbored hopes of Arsenal’s primary center following the departure of Lacazette that summer, but Arsenal signed Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City and Nketiah continued to play second fiddle to the new alpha dog in attack. Last season actually turned out to be his highest for Arsenal in terms of appearances, as Gabriel Jesus long term injury allow Nketiah feature in a lot of games, 39 in total, scoring nine goals.
Last season also offered Nketiah the opportunity to feature in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar as Ghana approached him to switch allegiances, but the Arsenal forward was reluctant to play for the country of his parents. Nketiah started this season in good form and has been called up in both international windows. In the September window, Nketiah was in the camp but didn’t feature, but the opportunity presented itself again this month, with England facing Australia in a friendly before a crunch clash with Italy next week.
If there was any game to feature Nketiah, it had to be Australia came, and last night, the young Arsenal striker made his debut for the Three Lions, coming on as a 73rd minute substitute for the eventual match winner, Ollie Watkins. Nketiah didn’t have much to do in the 17 minutes plus added time that he featured, but he must have been very proud to finally get a chance to feature for England, after being a mainstay in the youth teams.
Ghana head coach, Chris Hughton, hasn’t given up hope in his attempts to lure Nketiah and Nottingham Forest’s Callum Hudson-Odoi to play for the Black Stars, as Nketiah can still be eligible to play for Ghana if he doesn’t feature in the competitive game against Italy next week Wednesday.
Either ways, I am happy for Nketiah and I hopes that he will continue to feature in some capacity for England in the near future.
Sayonara.
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