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<\/p>\nEddie Nketiah will be reunited again <\/p>\n
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For Eddie Nketiah, it is a story of Arsenal royalty and Chelsea rejects. A first senior call-up for the record scorer in the history of the England Under-21s capped a fine start to the season and came after a reunion. Nketiah and Declan Rice were players who thought their dreams had died, south Londoners who were released by Chelsea as teenagers. Now they could be teammates for club and country: one is currently Arsenal\u2019s first-choice forward, the other their \u00a3105m record signing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is funny how life works sometimes,\u201d Nketiah reflected. \u201cWe have done the full 360 to be back together. I was there from the ages of nine and it came as a shock to me because I was doing well at the time. Obviously Declan was of that age group as well and had a similar experience.\u201d Rice was the first to taste disappointment; two years later, Nketiah was deemed too small. Each could seem a costly mistake; then it was a crushing blow to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it gives you an awakening and just knowing that things can change like that: that you can lose everything you have worked for,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives you that extra bit of motivation and resilience when times are hard. I\u2019m able to dig a level deeper than maybe some people can or don\u2019t want to go into.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arsenal helped him dig, rebuilding his confidence with the aid of their two greatest goalscorers of all time. Ian Wright became a mentor. Thierry Henry coached him in the academy. His best advice to Nketiah was motivational, not tactical. \u201cProbably just to believe in yourself,\u201d said the younger forward. \u201cHe came in and saw the quality I had when I was 16 or 17 and said that I just needed to believe in myself, whatever anyone else said. That is what is going to drive you, to motivate you.\u201d They may seem simple words but the stature of the man delivering them meant they had added meaning. \u201cHe knows what he\u2019s talking about, so it\u2019s not a bad feeling,\u201d Nketiah said.<\/p>\n
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As a player, he may share more similarities with Wright than the World Cup winner but there is an echo of Henry whenever he dons the Arsenal kit. The No 14 shirt used to be the Frenchman\u2019s. \u201cThierry wearing it has made it a lot more special,\u201d Nketiah said. \u201cWhen the number was available and offered to me, it was something that I embraced. I\u2019m not here to try and recreate Thierry\u2019s moments. I\u2019m here to put my own stamp on it and create my own special memories in the shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which, at times, he has done: January\u2019s 90th-minute winner against Manchester United was an indication of the merits of a predator. Nketiah has taken advantage of Gabriel Jesus\u2019 absence to start three of four league games this season. And yet the shirt number can have another meaning: Nketiah has often seemed roughly the 14th man, the perennial substitute. Two-thirds of his Premier League appearances have come off the bench. When he was loaned to Leeds in 2019-20, 15 of his 17 Championship outings under Marcelo Bielsa came as a replacement.<\/p>\n
Much as Nketiah wants to start, the temptation is to wonder if his excellence as a substitute helps account for Gareth Southgate\u2019s decision to select him: in a squad where Harry Kane\u2019s pre-eminence among the strikers is established, England may want a game-changer in reserve. A perennial starter for his club, like Aston Villa\u2019s Ollie Watkins, has less experience of being sent on in the dying minutes of major matches.<\/p>\n
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Eddie Nketiah has done enough for Arsenal this season to earn maiden England call up <\/p>\n
That status as the regular reserve may account for his Under-21 scoring record: without playing enough club football, he was less likely to be promoted to the senior set-up and so ended up with 16 goals in 17 caps. Meanwhile, this month marks six years since his Arsenal debut: he has been overtaken by Bukayo Saka, two years his junior but with 28 full caps to his name.<\/p>\n
Nketiah, meanwhile, was courted by Ghana. The England call-up came at an opportune time, when Nketiah was at home, surrounded by family and a friend. \u201cWhen I got the text it was surreal. I am usually a calm guy but I did lose a little bit of composure for a 10 seconds or so,\u201d he said. \u201cMy parents were really emotional. They sacrificed a lot for me to get here and it was really nice to see that happiness and pride on their faces.\u201d His father used to drive him to every game and booked flights to watch him on tour. His mother would stay up late, washing his kit. His sisters would finish school, come home and put him on a train to first Chelsea\u2019s Cobham training ground and then Arsenal\u2019s Hale End academy. The journey was not a simple or straightforward one but Nketiah is now on the brink of an England debut.<\/p>\n