Crystal Palace and Patrick Vieira are still interested in signing Eddie Nketiah according to reports this week.

They say that Crystal Palace are still interested in signing Eddie Nketiah when the January window opens and it’s not hard to understand why.

Only really getting a chance at Arsenal in the League Cup, he pretty much always scores when he plays.  

Nketiah is out of contract this summer so January will be the final chance for Arsenal to cash in, should they wish to sell the goal poacher.

That being said, the last time Mikel Arteta spoke about the matter, he seemed to genuinely want Nketiah to stay, although talks to extend his contract have not yet been reported.

“I have no doubts about what he can offer,” Arteta said last month.

“Whatever you throw at him, he wants more, and demands more of himself, and he’s another one that I am delighted to see the performance and for him to score the goal and help the team, because he totally deserves it.

“But there’s a lot of players who play in that position, and with a personal situation [with his contract running down], but I try to leave that aside and try to [reward him] because he deserves it.

“We had a situation in the summer that we tried to resolve and we couldn’t either way.

“The contract situation is more and more common in football, from where we are coming from with Covid and a lot of issues we have to resolve. I have full belief that he is going to be a top player and hopefully at Arsenal.

“I am happy to have him in the team. He is our player and I consider him and regard him really highly, and from my side I want him to stay.”

If that wasn’t true there was no need for Arteta to add the last bit about wanting Nketiah to say.

He’d offered enough platitudes in his previous sentences. Still, the best way to show that Arsenal want him to stay would probably be to offer him a new contract rather than words in the media.

Nketiah now has 15 goals (and one assist) in his 67 Arsenal games, although those numbers don’t tell the story of a young player only playing a bit-part role.

In the League Cup, where he usually starts, he has a total of seven goals in eight games for both Arsenal and Leeds, with two in two for his former loan club and five in six for Arsenal.