Yeah, pretty sure Gray had one of the highest Xg but also lowest Xg conversion rates in the league? Basically gets into great positions but can’t finish.
Troy is in exactly the position he wants to be. Following the opposition centre back around so he can win the odd header, try start a scrap, wave his hands around at the quality of service and then brag about how hard he is.
At least there's hope he can come good, unlike that 25 year old, proven and established bag o shyte, Fletcher.
This is in no way a defence of Gray as an overall player - he’s terrible and we need to get rid.... ...but I do think to get what little quality he has out of him, he needs to be confident. He finally scored a few goals and immediately Xisco took him back out and barely gave him any minutes again - he favoured Success for whatever reason. Obviously not a criticism per se of the manager as we went up - but it certainly didn’t help Gray’s cause and I thought it was a little unfair on him really. Not that I really care for him as a character really. I tried to stick up for him at the start of the season but his second lockdown breach ended all that for me.
Well maybe we had nobody else fit for Wycombe! Xisco saw him virtually everyday in training if he thought he was capable he would of played him more.
I think Success just suits the system better even if he is a worse player than Gray. The same applies to JP even though he was in pretty awful form in the second half of the season. I think Xisco wants someone who can hold the ball up and be involved in build up. Feeds into why I think Nketiah would be a poor signing.
How does Santos Borre fit in with that? Genuinely not a clue how good he is as a player even if he seems a natural striker
He has the pace of Deeney, the close control of Gray and the never say die commitment of Success. Just picture that if you can. “The complete player”.
Borre looks a little more rounded than what we already have, but that isn't saying a great deal. Borre looks to consistently get into goalscoring positions - his xG and touches in the box are excellent. He looks to work very hard off the ball but he doesn't look great in the air and his dribbling doesn't look great. I am not going to pretend that I have watched lots of the Argentinian league so I am just going off the stats shared elsewhere on this site and some highlights.
Would be a 'lets see what he can do' from me if we sign him. Lingard has shown you can show some form after a switch from one of the 'top 6' clubs. I am sure there have been other ones over the years as well.
> Different type of player playing in a diffent position? Check > Completely different stage of his career? Check > Signed on loan rather than purchased, by a team in a completely different position to us financially and operationally? Check Bazinga!
Jesse Lingard had already won things in his career and many international caps. And had some decent PL pedigree to that point in his career. I can see where you were going with your point but it wasn’t a great comparison!
Yes fair point they are at different stages of their career, I was just saying that a switch from one of them clubs can help a player sometimes.
But still, let's see what he can do. Even when we do see it, let's not use that to cloud our judgement over what he might possibly do in the future. And then, if, aftet 5 years of consistent great or terrible form, lets not presume he couldn't immediately switch and do the opposite.
Kevin De Bryne was around the same age as Nketiah, not getting a look in at Chelsea, who revived his career away from them. Not saying that Nketiah will end up with a career like De Bryne's, its just another example of a player switch from a top 6 club working out for the better. So, as I said, if he did join its a 'let's see what he can do' from me.
I believe Mo Salah struggled at Chelsea around the same age, he's done alright for himself. I mentioned Andy Cole too before. Sometimes a change of scenery and being the main man can work wonders. Every transfer as I keep saying is a gamble but it's one we need to take.
It was harder for de Bruyne to crack the Chelsea team of that time than Arsenal's current team (of course it wasn't really the intention, just like us with Suarez and Estupinan, he was bought as an investment, him cracking the first team would have been a bonus), and he had a track record in the Belgian league. Nketiah is 22 and hasn't much of a track record in either the Championship nor the Prem, I'm not saying he never will, but I'd only fancy this signing if he came cheap, would rather bring in Santos Borre, Ugbo or Kolo Muani
Nketiah wouldn't be competing with an Abameyang or a Lacazette if he came here, its with a Deeney Gray and Success. So would potentially have some sort of a chance
Nketiah isn't really comparable with those kinds of players. Mo Salah, Kevin De Bruyne and Lukaku were all extremely talented youngsters who had impressed in worse leagues but struggled to fit into a chelsea side who were competing for titles (and had a notoriously difficult manager who doesn't like playing youth). Eddie Nketiah is largely unproved at senior level and he struggles for game time in a mid-table arsenal side whose strikers have been in pretty woeful form all season. He may well go on to have an incredible player but on the evidence available it would be an enormous gamble for us to sign him for the amounts being talked about.
Yes, but as barely has said, it's not the concept of players not doing well whilst at one club, top six or not, and going on to do well at another that is in question - De Bruyne and Salah had both registered around 100 appearances for previous clubs before even moving to Chelsea, with Salah playing and scoring in both the Europa League and the Champions League. Their example tells us basically nothing about this as a prospective move for us, and it should probably also be noted just for safety that neither, when moving away from Chelsea, went to newly promoted clubs desperately in need of the one position they play in to have any chance of staying up (despite having very little experience of senior football in that position).
The pressure for whoever comes in as our starting striker next season will be pretty massive. Look what it did to Rhian Brewster - a barren spell at the start of the season just ruined him. Nketiah has generally only ever played in games where there is very little on the line and where even if Arsenal lost, it would be unlikely he took the flack. At least with someone like Borre he has played in big games for a massive club and where there is expectation on him. JP to his credit did a pretty good job this season of stepping in under the pressure of leading the line for a promotion favourite when I don't imagine that was the plan during the transfer window.
Romano now stating Arsenal have offered him a new deal as per The Athletic. Nothing agreed yet. Also goes on to state that we, along with West Ham and Palace are interested (doesn’t say whether this is a loan in the event of him signing a new deal or not). Leverkusen pushing hardest to get him.
Let's just get him signed up. Nketiah playing alongside Ngakia could keep us Ntertained for years to come.
If we do want him let’s screw Arsenal over financially and low ball. They aren’t in great shape financially having had to take out large loans with punitive stipulations about not buying players.
Quoting from da classics. Elton nailed the absurdity of the Cold War. This guy can nail the Premier League for us. Perhaps.
Surprised no-one has said this yet, but according to Sky Sports, talks have broken down over a new contract, and they are now listening to offers for him.
I really don’t have a good sense of how good he is. Can be really hard to tell considering he plays for a (supposedly) ‘big club’ and has limited minutes. Has done really well personally for England u21s but the team hasn’t done at all well.
Agreed. I’m all for signing him if it’s less than £10mil. Anything more than that and it could be Andre Gray mark 2. Now that he has supposedly turned their offer down, Arsenal don’t really have much to bargain with. Would be happy if we signed him for reasonably cheap fee as mentioned in this post.
Yes but every PL side after a striker would be looking at him. So Arsenal will be able to put us, Palace, West Ham etc against one another to drive up the price.
