Arsenal: Eddie Nketiah’s Leeds loan troubling in a lot of ways

Eddie Nketiah is supposed to be gearing up for a glorious return to Arsenal, but that’s going to require a lot more than what he’s currently getting.

Arsenal built up a lot of hope in Eddie Nketiah, and when he scooted off on loan to Leeds United, there was a ton of belief that this was the calm before the storm (in a good way) move. The kind of loan that would springboard him into the first team picture and put him in a position to step in for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Alexandre Lacazette… should the worst happen.

It felt a lot like the Reiss Nelson to Hoffenheim loan. Only Nelson scored so many goals when he first landed that he was in the race for Bundesliga Golden Boot. Obviously it’s been a bit slow since then, but he’s still improved.

Nketiah isn’t finding the kind of success that Nelson did. Thus far into the season, and granted, it’s still early, he’s only amassed 162 minutes of Championship game time, the fourth least minutes played of anyone in the Leeds first team.

Not so good. Minutes are the most important thing. And that’s the other bothersome thing. He’s scored four goals for them in all competitions and he still isn’t getting more time on the pitch.

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Now… I don’t want to drop the Serge Gnabry similarity, but the big similarity is that we sent these guys off to get minutes and they just didn’t achieve that. Gnabry never even got a chance, and Nketiah isn’t getting much of a chance either, despite being an efficient goal scorer.

Those two factors alone are troubling. That he isn’t getting more minutes and that he isn’t scoring even more goals, because at least then he wouldn’t have any complaints.

But then there’s also the matter of him being at a stage in his career where he really needs minutes more than anything else. He’s 20. Joe Willock and Matteo Guendouzi are 20 and they are both making clear headway into being relevant in the first team for a long time.

Nketiah isn’t.

Now, again, I know it’s early. So maybe I’m blowing the lid off this way too early. But I still have nervous twitches from Gnabry’s time and I’d hate to see anyone else go that same way.

Nketiah has so much natural ability, he just needs more time to suss it out. Hopefully that time will come as the year goes on.