I think it's fair enough. He's had a taste of 1st team football and wants to be somewhere where he is settled and 1st choice. He won't even get meaningful minutes here. I think he's more of a counter attack striker, making runs and getting the ball in the last action which doesn't suit us and we have Jesus, Trossard, Eddie for the 9. Sell him in the summer with a sell on clause.

Lokonga needs to be sold too. Palace have started winning without him and Hodgson is bringing on Hughes and McArthur from the bench rather than Sambi. Hopefully we will get our money back. Tavares can go too.

Only natural he will want game time now.. Would prefer to keep him instead of Eddie but doubt he would want to be possibly 3rd choice next season...

Should be able to get a decent amount for him in the market, would try an put a buy back clause in any sale as well.

HomeSteak He was angry when he wasn't given a chance previously by Arteta too. Kept posting on social media little jigs about him. If he wants to go, get a buy back clause. If not convince him 2nd choice at this stage is good for him, bin Nketiah.

Don't really agree US is a bad choice. Very young team full of talents, can win the Concacaf and Gold Cup every few years whilst If he chose England he gets a very questionable manager and will win nothing. 50-50 choice

    US is ideal for him for national team. There is poverty across the forward line - he will slot in immediately, almost automatically get picked as the 9. Why choose England to compete with Kane for the next 3 years?

      HomeSteak I don't think its a bad call from him in respect to where his motivations seem to lie. He wants to be a big deal and a big player, he'll walk into the US squad before the World Cup over there and be their main striker. That'll be huge for him and propel him to stardom. Its probably why he's demanding football now too, he wants to get out there and show what he has. He seems very calculated about it all and fair enough if thats what he wants let him go, we can cash in and he can have his career away from us. We've enough Hale End grads who are good enough and actually want to be here.

        flobaba with the US hosting the World Cup he could become a household name over there too. Perfect opportunity for someone who wants to be a big star.

          Good that quite a few teams want him. We should ask for a big fee.

          5 days later

          flobaba he also has to weigh up regular trips across the ocean to play Honduras and Jamaica. CONCACAF is not a serious federation. If I were him, I’d definitely take my time over the decision

            7 days later

            He really left Arsenal man to be a CM somewhere, only to end up back-up right back at almost relegated Sotton...and with no contract offer in almost may. I don't know if it was him or his agent who made that call, but boy did he fuck up

              HomeSteak I don't know if it was him or his agent who made that call, but boy did he fuck up

              There are enough fucks to go around with how the whole situation unfolded. Could have gotten 20m for him.

              • goon replied to this.

                  Big Willie

                  I think it was £15m that Wolves offered. I think the clubs been a little unlucky, but ultimately I don't think a player who's never established himself as a serious contender to be a first XI player should be here at the age of 26. A lesson we should learn with Eddie. If we can't get 25m for him so be it, but even 15-20m is better than nothing.

                      £20m was what we wanted apparently, what they actually offered and rejected at the time was £15m.

                      https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11699/12057111/ainsley-maitland-niles-wolves-opening-15m-bid-rejected-by-arsenal

                      But I think we may have moved the goalposts later on after he got an England cap so maybe that's why a second bid never materialised, so you could be right.

                      I was one of the few on here (I think along with Kel?) that wanted to sell him for £20m, but thought £15m was too low.

                        I mean we played our own part on this one - my recollection was that Mikel rejected this on the basis that we wanted AMN to stay but then never used him.

                        goon was one of the few on here (I think along with Kel?) that wanted to sell him for £20m, but thought £15m was too low.

                        but everyone who didn't want to accept the bid didn't because they wanted to use him. The actual outcome, rejecting the bid and not using him, was the one option nobody would've chosen.

                            QuincyAbeyie
                            This is right Quincy.
                            I think Edu will have to be judged on the sum of his transfer actions versus individual deals. Everybody has a few stinkers.

                            I feel that deals done within this season and next season will be the best indicator of how much value he adds. For the previous seasons we were in basically a “big bath” mode, using a crisis to clear no -performing assets, and refreshing the squad. Now that the big financial crisis is over, we need to show peak performance in trading. Sell some excess (Nketiah or Balo, Tierney, Lokonga etc) and buy some new stars.

                              4 months later

                              He was dropping dime after dime in their game against WBA. Looks like he's earning the team's trust already to dictate and I'm really excited about following his season.