Reiss Nelson and the West Ham links

Let’s begin this morning with stories linking Reiss Nelson with a move to West Ham.

Apparently the player has agreed to the deal, and it’s now down to the two clubs to sort out the details. Which sounds promising, I suppose, but that part about the two clubs is kinda a big deal. There are loads of players who, via back-channels and agent/sporting director conversations, have agreed to join a particular club, but unfortunately the deals fall down in trivial details like transfer fee, sell-on clauses, commissions, wages, and so on.

At face value, I think it would be a fantastic move for a player who is going to be 25 years old in December, and whose time at Arsenal has been hit and miss – the big hit being the goal against Bournemouth which will always be a moment to remember. He’s had a few decent performances here and there, but ultimately he’s spent too much time on the bench, and not enough time playing. There were a couple of ok loan moves in there too, to be fair.

Since making his Premier League debut in January of 2018, he has accumulated a total of 1321 minutes in that competition. To put that into context, Bukayo Saka played more than that in his breakthrough season alone, and now has racked up 13,445 minutes of Premier League action in total at 22 years of age. Nelson has less than 10% of that under his belt. Of course Saka is a special case, an incredible talent with remarkable consistency and durability, but it does illustrate Nelson’s place in the squad as it stands.

When he started against Luton in April, it was the first time he’d been selected in the starting line-up for four years, and more than anything a manager says about a player and his talent, how he uses him tells you the real story. Clearly there is talent there, but in a summer when all the reports say Arsenal want to raise the floor of the squad and bring in players who can add real depth, the departure of Reiss Nelson – along with other underused guys like Emile Smith…

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Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-07-18 06:18:04

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