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Reiss Nelson is approaching his last chance saloon at Arsenal and he could yet leave the club on a free if he fails to impress in the upcoming campaign.
THE LOWDOWN: OPPORTUNITY UP FOR GRABS
Reiss Nelson is entering the final year of his Arsenal contract and competition for spots are more than tight as a new season approaches.
The 22-year-old showed some promise in a season-long spell with Feyenoord last term, making 11 goal contributions in 32 appearances across all competitions for the Dutch outfit.
Nelson is now back at Arsenal and will be expected to impress Mikel Arteta and fight for a spot in the Gunners’ starting lineup. The Arsenal academy graduate has featured in the club’s pre-season fixtures so far, and was also part of the traveling party to their U.S. tour starting later this week.
Arsenal are in search of a winger to come in and provide competition for Bukayo Saka, amid their failed pursuit of Raphinha, who joined Barcelona from Leeds in a complicated transfer saga. Elsewhere, Nicolas Pepe has failed to impress and could yet be on his way out of the club. If the Gunners cannot secure another winger before the end of the transfer window, that leaves Nelson with a golden opportunity to feature in some games and possibly save his Arsenal career,
THE LATEST: NELSON TO GET ONE LAST CHANCE
Following his loan spell, Goal had claimed that Feyenoord had plans to take Nelson for another season on loan. However, Arsenal preferred to sell, given that the player is in the final year of his contract.
The Dutch giants ultimately decided against a permanent move, with Fabrizio Romano claiming in May that they couldn’t afford to go that route.
Taking all of that into account, The Athletic recently claimed that Arsenal are now happy to keep Nelson at the club for the 2022/23 campaign, if they can’t get him to join another club in a permanent move.
THE VERDICT: NOW OR NEVER FOR NELSON
Asides from Raphinha, Arsenal were also linked with a move for Bayern star and former player Serge Gnabry, who becomes a free agent in the summer of 2023. Put in perspective, Nelson and Gnabry will be free agents by next summer and it is a no-brainer that the Gunners would rather persuade the latter to join than offer the former a new contract.
As it stands, Mikel Arteta is happy to keep Nelson only because the club did not get an offer that met their valuation. However, an explosive campaign for the 22-year-old could yet change his fortunes and perhaps see him get a contract extension, similar to Eddie Nketiah.
His future at Arsenal hangs in the balance and the 2022/23 season is a make-or-break campaign for the forward.
