There have been plenty of transfer rumours circulating about Arsenal this week, but perhaps the most intriguing report has been about Reiss Nelson potentially leaving the club this summer.
Indeed, it has been widely reported that the Gunners are open to offers for the young winger at the end of the season, and while that may allow them to spend elsewhere, we can’t help but feel it’s a mistake.
For one reason or another, Nelson has scarcely been given a chance to impress at Arsenal this season, playing just 70 minutes of Premier League football.
The fact of the matter is, he’s not playing enough for a player of his talents. Let’s not forget that this is a man who scored seven Bundesliga goals in just 630 minutes for Hoffenheim during his loan spell there as a teenager.
If Nelson was putting up those sort of numbers in the Bundesliga without being on Arsenal’s books, he’d have a lot of eyes on him, but here we are, almost three years on from that spell in Germany, and he’s in-line to be sold without being given a chance.
Arsenal have been down this path before of selling a talented player before they were given a chance to shine. Serge Gnabry was sold after making just 10 Premier League appearances for the Gunners, and he’s gone on to be a bona fide superstar in world football.
Of course, saying an Arsenal youngster set for an exit could be another Gnabry has become rather cliche in recent times, and on most occasions, that comparison hasn’t rung true, but Nelson’s record in Germany does suggest that letting him go would be a mistake.
Now, we’re not saying Nelson is as good as Gnabry, hardly anybody is, but it is worth noting that during his lone season in the Bundesliga, Nelson scored at a better rate than Gnabry in a Hoffenheim team that Gnabry had only just departed.
We don’t know what the future holds for Nelson if he leaves Arsenal, but we can’t help but feel that selling him after he’s played just under 850 league minutes for the club is a little bit pre-emptive, and it could be another Gnabry-esque situation if he flourishes elsewhere as he did at Hoffenheim a couple of years ago.
Arsenal must think very carefully before writing off a 21-year-old who has performed so well in the past.
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