Arsenal: Eddie Nketiah’s victim list will only grow longer

Everyone has lost their shit over Eddie Nketiah’s Arsenal breakthrough, but it’s really not that surprising. He does one thing well wherever he goes.

Arsenal take a good deal of pride in their academy, so anytime a player makes a breakthrough with the senior team, it’s cause for excitement. And naturally, anytime there’s a breakthrough, everyone jumps on the bandwagon (not that that’s a bad thing).

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It happened with Reiss Nelson in the preseason and it’s happening with Eddie Nketiah now, following his break out, match-saving performance against Norwich City in the Carabao Cup.

He’s being dubbed the “next great prospect” and “the next legend,” sometimes seriously, sometimes tongue-in-cheek. Everyone wants more Eddie, and who can blame them, given his ability to produce heroics like he did?

But this shouldn’t be a surprise. Ever since Arsenal picked up Nketiah, the lad has done one thing at a fever pace – score.

No matter where he goes or what level he plays at, Nketiah has a nose for goal and, not surprisingly, when he was given his first-team nod, the trend followed. He was able to send home two goals that simply involved him being in the right place and the right time and him wanting it more than anyone else.

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Nketiah’s production up until this point has been nothing short of amazing, and it has a lot to do with why Donyell Malen was sold to PSV. In time, Chuba Akpom will fade away too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Stephy Mavididi, as talented as he is, falls behind Nketiah as well.

This isn’t over-hype, or overreacting, it’s the simple truth. You want one main thing out of your strikers – goals. Nketiah provides those in abundance. 24 goals and five assists last season in 2100 minutes played. Seven goals in four appearances for the England youth set-up.

Nketiah just knows how to score and more strikers will be left behind as Nketiah continues to grow.

The best part about this is that Nketiah does more than score, but he doesn’t even need to. Against Norwich he was setting up chances, exerting pinpoint control over the ball and even winning the ball back at the other end of the pitch, which had to make Arsene Wenger feel all kinds of special.

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The 18-year-old wants it. Arguably more than anyone else. And so long as that is the case, he will continue to knock off players who can’t match his level of determination.