Reiss Nelson and the West Ham links

Let’s begin this morning with stories linking Reiss Nelson with a move to West Ham.

Apparently the player has agreed to the deal, and it’s now down to the two clubs to sort out the details. Which sounds promising, I suppose, but that part about the two clubs is kinda a big deal. There are loads of players who, via back-channels and agent/sporting director conversations, have agreed to join a particular club, but unfortunately the deals fall down in trivial details like transfer fee, sell-on clauses, commissions, wages, and so on.

At face value, I think it would be a fantastic move for a player who is going to be 25 years old in December, and whose time at Arsenal has been hit and miss – the big hit being the goal against Bournemouth which will always be a moment to remember. He’s had a few decent performances here and there, but ultimately he’s spent too much time on the bench, and not enough time playing. There were a couple of ok loan moves in there too, to be fair.

Since making his Premier League debut in January of 2018, he has accumulated a total of 1321 minutes in that competition. To put that into context, Bukayo Saka played more than that in his breakthrough season alone, and now has racked up 13,445 minutes of Premier League action in total at 22 years of age. Nelson has less than 10% of that under his belt. Of course Saka is a special case, an incredible talent with remarkable consistency and durability, but it does illustrate Nelson’s place in the squad as it stands.

When he started against Luton in April, it was the first time he’d been selected in the starting line-up for four years, and more than anything a manager says about a player and his talent, how he uses him tells you the real story. Clearly there is talent there, but in a summer when all the reports say Arsenal want to raise the floor of the squad and bring in players who can add real depth, the departure of Reiss Nelson – along with other underused guys like Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and I’d even throw Fabio Vieira into that conversation – seems like an obvious part of that process.

The flip side of that though is what can Arsenal reasonably expect in terms of a fee for a player who we haven’t really been willing to play? I know the market has been skewed by these deals between clubs for young players who nobody has heard of, and I’m sure there’s a wider conversation to be had about how PSR rules are a mess that makes the Premier League look ridiculous when these transfers take place. However, these transfers – however dodgy they might seem (very, btw!) – involve players who, at face value, still have raw potential (how much I don’t know) and aren’t encumbered by history and stats and evidence.

I think West Ham would be a great move for Nelson, but I’m not necessarily convinced it’d be as good a deal for West Ham. I could be wrong, obviously. A change of scenery, a new dynamic, and a better chance of more playing time might well see him flourish and realise some of the potential that made him such a bright star when he was coming through the Academy ranks. All I can say is if I were a West Ham fan, I’d find the signing of a player with his profile somewhat underwhelming.

Still, this week we’ve had Smith Rowe linked with Fulham and Crystal Palace, Nketiah with Marseille, and now Nelson and West Ham. It does feel as if there are a few things beginning to take place, and when there are departures, there need to be arrivals too, because there are myriad reasons why this squad needs an injection of something before the start of the new campaign. Perhaps that’s something for another blog though.

For now, I’ll leave it there. If you’re a Patreon member, there’s an episode of Waffle for you right now, the podcast in which me and James talk about anything and everything except football/Arsenal. Back tomorrow with more, and hopefully an Arsecast too.

Until then.

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