Arsenal will be the big winners if Eddie Nketiah can enjoy a full season on loan at Leeds United.
Highly rated at Arsenal, Nketiah has made an impression whenever he has been given a chance to play for the senior side. The young Englishman scored his first Premier League goal against Burnley on the final day last season and he has continued his good form into the pre-season.
Nketiah, if he can step up his performances, could stake a claim for a spot in Arsenal’s first team next season when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang turns 31 and he couldn’t have wished for a better manager than Marcelo Bielsa to help him on that journey.
A master tactician with an incredible history of developing young players, Bielsa will help Nketiah bring out his best in the Championship this season. The Arsenal man already looks mature in his movement but there is a ton of room to improve on his finishing and composure in the final third.
Nketiah, who is in some ways comparable to Chelsea’s Michy Batshuayi, can have the same kind of impact that the Belgian had under Bielsa at Marseille a few years ago. Batshuayi caught the eye of the world under Bielsa in France in a season that didn’t quite go to plan for the club. The Belgian, despite his side’s poor showing, found the net nine times despite featuring mainly as a substitute.
A replacement to Kemar Roofe, Nketiah could start a lot of games up top in the Championship and if he can keep his head down and work like Bielsa wants him to, Unai Emery will have a much-improved player at his disposal when he returns to the Emirates at the end of next season.
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