When Eddie Nketiah steps out at Selhurst Park for the first time as a Crystal Palace player, he will, in effect, be returning ‘home’.
During nine years in north London with Arsenal, he settled at his adopted home, tied by an emotional bond he formed with the supporters and club.
But it is across the river in Lewisham, south London, where he spent his formative years, changing into his kit on the touchline after church to play for Sunday League side Hillyfielders FC, based in Honor Oak Park, five miles north of Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium.
It was Chelsea, though, who first picked him up after being scouted aged nine. They released Nketiah six years later in 2015 but his determination never wavered, and he thrived with Arsenal’s academy instead.
Now, seven years after a senior debut aged 18, the 25-year-old is saying a fond farewell to a club where he has been appreciated for his hard work and steadfast determination to fight for regular football which only fleetingly arrived. It will mark the departure of a second academy graduate in the space of a month, with Emile Smith Rowe, held in similarly high esteem by Arsenal fans, leaving for Fulham for a fee of up to £34million ($43.7m).
The deal for Nketiah could be worth up to £30million, which ranks the striker as the second-most expensive signing in the club’s history. You have to go back to 2016 to find Palace spending more on a single player, when they paid Liverpool an initial £27m for Christian Benteke with a further £5m in add-ons.
Whether those contingent sums were ever triggered is unclear — Benteke’s time at Selhurst Park was not a roaring success — but it speaks to Palace’s restraint in the market over recent years that they have not laid down such a hefty sum for so long.
Nketiah’s overall record stands at 19 goals from 116 Premier League appearances, of which only 38 were starts. He may never have truly established himself as a regular at Arsenal but ever since he came off the bench to score his first goal for the club 15 seconds into his home debut — a 2-1 EFL Cup win over Norwich City in October 2017 — he has been well thought of by Arsenal supporters.
Nketiah after scoring against Norwich in 2017 (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Nketiah has scored two hat-tricks so far in his career, including against Sheffield United last season, after which Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta praised him to the hilt. “Well, to me, he is top level, he said. “He’s started (eight) out of our 10 Premier League games, so that tells you how much we trust him and the importance he has in the team.”
That confidence in Nketiah stemmed from an appreciation of his willingness to work hard and be patient when waiting for his opportunities. There was no moaning. Just a desire to get his head down, train well and take the chance when it came.
One of Arteta’s first involvements in transfers as Arsenal head coach was to recall Nketiah from his loan at Leeds United on New Year’s Day 2020. He subsequently enjoyed a run of games up front ahead of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, starting six games out of eight before a red card against Leicester City earned him a two-match suspension.
In the Amazon Prime documentary series ‘All or Nothing’, charting life behind the scenes at Arsenal, he was widely praised for telling team-mate Albert Sambi Lokonga to stop complaining about a lack of minutes, reflecting that positive attitude he has displayed.
“It was a bit of a joke between me and Sambi,” Nketiah said. “We get on very well but not every player is going to be happy when they’re not playing. That mentality just comes from the way I was raised, the area I grew up in. It was always to do the best with whatever situation you’re put in.
“Complaining never gets you anywhere. There’s always different ways to channel your energy. That’s the way my family have always taught me and through my area; how we’ve always been raised to channel your focus and show it in the right way on the pitch, and do your talking there.”
Nketiah earned a first call-up to the senior England squad in September 2023, having progressed through the youth ranks. Bill Cawley, Nketiah’s secondary school head of physical education at Addey and Stanhope School in Lewisham told The Athletic at the time that the striker “will do what he needs to do. He’s not going to moan. hH is just going to work hard until he gets there and he is going to fly in the face of adversity”.
“Perseverance and diligence would be the words I’d use to describe Eddie,” Cawley added. “He makes the most of every single opportunity.”
That dedication is something the striker himself spoke about. “A lot of people think it took me 15 seconds to score for Arsenal,” he said, referring to that goal from the bench against Norwich. “But I’ve been working on it my whole life.”
Nketiah playing for England last year (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Palace’s recruitment strategy — buying young players for lower fees on lower wages, developing them and, in theory, selling them for a profit — may be tested by this deal. Nketiah does not really fit given his age and he will command significant wages likely to make him one of Palace’s highest earners.
But it is a move of convenience as well. Palace need attacking reinforcements after selling Michael Olise to Bayern Munich in a deal which earned them around £50m earlier in the summer. Odsonne Edouard could yet depart and in any case has struggled to make an impact over the last three seasons. (Palace first looked to sign Nketiah in 2021, when he was available for around £15m, but no deal was struck and they signed Edouard from Celtic instead.)
With manager Oliver Glasner looking for different profiles to replace the impact of Olise and several players to share that burden, Nketiah offers something different for Palace.
He is capable of using both feet, is intelligent, agile and quick. His record with Arsenal does not paint the picture of a prolific goalscorer, though in the 2021-22 campaign, he scored five goals in eight games. The following season, he took his chance after Christmas courtesy of an injury to Gabriel Jesus at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, scoring four goals in five games, including two goals against Manchester United in January 2023.
It may be hard on Jean-Philippe Mateta to be dropped from the Palace side, given his remarkable transformation in the past eight months. After his silver medal in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with the France men’s team, he had scored 19 goals from his last 19 games with club and country. Spearheading the Palace attack, he has thrived. With Nketiah’s arrival, though, he will face strong competition for his place up front.
Nketiah will suit Glasner’s system,which is predicated on selflessness and requires hard work and energy matched with ability. Palace have sought to sign players who can run in behind defences and if Daichi Kamada comes good, his clever passing ought to suit Nketiah, who should work well in a pressing system, while Eberechi Eze will continue to be a creative spark in midfield as well.
It may not have worked out exactly how everyone would have hoped at Arsenal but Nketiah leaves with the appreciation of supporters for an academy graduate whose effort never waned. Now, though, there is an opportunity for a fresh start back ‘home’ in south London, where hard work and dedication is valued just as highly. If he can score consistently, that familiarity will escalate his status rapidly at Palace.
GO DEEPER
Ten Premier League players who need a move this summer – including Eddie Nketiah and Ben Chilwell
(Top photo: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)
