Arsenal: 5 players with important contract situations to sort out

Reiss Nelson

Why didn’t Reiss Nelson go out on loan? Depending on where you read there were issues over sharing his wages, a disagreement on what he could offer the side and not finding the right loan club for him.

Whatever the outcome, the conclusion to the dilemma should not have been playing with the Under-23 side. Nelson still has time to forge a strong career in the Premier League but he should be already playing first team football, whether that’s at a bottom half club, in the Championship or abroad.

Arteta has made numerous calls on personnel at Arsenal and gradually there has been an acceptance that he simply doesn’t favour Nelson.

There doesn’t appear to be a future for him in north London and there will be takers for an undoubtedly talented English forward at his age, so a sale appears on the cards.

With two years left on his deal in the summer, there is still the possibility that Arsenal tie him down for a few more years and send him out on loan for the 2021/22 campaign, in a similar vein to how Konstantinos Mavropanos’ situation was handled.

The former still remains the more likely outcome.