Arsenal: There is no reason to rush Reiss Nelson

Arsenal fans are rightfully chomping at the bit to see Reiss Nelson return to the Emirates, but take a deep breath. There’s no reason to rush this.

Arsenal are notoriously short on wingers. And with Danny Welbeck out for a long time and Henrikh Mkhitaryan struggling for any semblance of reliability, even the wingers that aren’t wingers aren’t really options.

As it stands, Alex Iwobi (who also isn’t really a winger) is the only option. And that is undoubtedly that has propelled this idea of an early return to the Emirates for Reiss Nelson. The young Englishman has been at Arsenal since he was eight and by his own admission, he wants to be a legend with the club that raised him.

Reiss Nelson was sent on an incredibly smart loan to Hoffenheim in a league that has become synonymous with giving young players a chance. And, to no great surprise, Nelson has been tearing it up over there.

He’s now scored six goals thus far into the early season, which puts him wedged in between Aubameyang (7) and Lacazette (5) in the goals category, if we want to start dropping comparisons.

Many people want that back at the club now, seeing as how we have seen the first really disturbing instance of this attack going stale against Wolverhampton. But in this situation, I have to defer to the sage advice of Julian Nagelsmann, who said that we need to let him develop in peace.

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Nelson made a good point, he wasn’t confident when he was 16, 17 under Arsene Wenger. He is gaining confidence now at Hoffenheim, but that doesn’t mean he has accomplished all of the growth he is ever going to accomplish already.

He needs to solidify that confidence, or we could be facing an Iwobi-like situation where that initial optimistic burst is undone by a couple years of floundering for self-belief.

I would love to see Nelson back at the club, firing home goals and starting down his path towards being a legend, but for now, let him stay at Hoffenheim. Give him a year. Let him feel his way through some difficulties or, best case scenario, just keep scoring. The more you do it, the more natural it feels and he is doing it in a top-tier league.

Don’t rush this. Nelson is smart, he said he wanted more months, maybe even a year, at Hoffenheim before he starts eyeing up a comeback. Make sure he’s ready. Don’t rush this.