Arsenal: Eddie Nketiah spoiled the entire Chuba Akpom process

Arsenal has waited a long time for Chuba Akpom to find his footing in the top tier, but Eddie Nketiah may have gone ahead and nipped that whole process.

Arsenal had a lot of hope riding on Chuba Akpom, especially with how highly Alex Iwobi always spoke of his mate. He was supposed to be such a clinical striker and every preseason tour, when he was pounding in the goals, hope was driven up again.

It hasn’t panned out. Only one loan move has ever been successful for him and injuries have gotten in the way the rest of the time.

This is supposed to be Akpom’s last big chance. Arsene Wenger respected that, as he sent Akpom on first against Norwich City when they needed a comeback. It was always going to be dicey, seeing as how he hasn’t featured for the first team in ages.

He didn’t have much of an impact. He created a few chances for himself and his team mates, but nothing that got our hopes up. It was pretty ‘blah’. Solid, and certainly not a liability, but not stand–out.

And then Eddie Nketiah came on. He was an afterthought in the substitution game, given five minutes to do something – anything. Which is exactly what he did. He stole the spotlight, scored both goals and won the game.

Meanwhile, Akpom, who is now 22-years-old, couldn’t muster much. Nketiah was just in the right place at the right time and he was busting his 18-year-old arse up and down the pitch, proving that he wanted to be there.

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Nketiah is kind of like a rewound Akpom. Only Nketiah has already been proving himself in the U18s and U23s better than Akpom did when he was there.

Nketiah is a goal-scoring fiend. No matter where he goes, he scores. And that has been a big problem for Akpom – scoring consistently. Wenger may be a fair and just guy, but there doesn’t seem to be a future for Akpom anymore. Whatever process the club had employed to develop him was undermined when Nketiah showed that he could not only handle the pressure, but thrive in it.

Nketiah isn’t the only one either. Stephy Mavididi is right on the cusp too and when compared to Akpom, the main thing you see is the age. Mavididi is 19 years old. Nketiah is 18. 22 is not old, not by a long shot, but when you have younger players than you doing more than you, it’s time to reevaluate.

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Akpom needs to be relevant here and now. He can’t afford to put it off any longer and, unfortunately, it looks like that’s exactly what he is doing.

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