Daily Mail journalist Sami Mokbel believes that Crystal Palace could get a deal for Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah done this month, despite the fact that his contract expires at the end of the season.
The Gunners ace has struggled for minutes this season and has been linked with a potential move across London to Selhurst Park.
What’s the latest with Nketiah?
He is struggling during his time under Mikel Arteta this season.
The 22-year-old was not even included in Arsenal’s squad for the first 11 Premier League games of the season, before being an unused substitute against Watford in November.
He has played just 38 minutes of top-flight football this term, playing 11 minutes against Manchester United, 19 minutes against Everton, and eight minutes against West Ham United.
He has instead been utilised more often in cup competitions, playing the entire game in the 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest, while also playing five times in the EFL Cup.
In those games in the latter competition, Nketiah has scored five goals, including a hat-trick against Sunderland.
The London Evening Standard reported earlier this month that Palace were in talks over a potential deal to sign Nketiah, although it may hinge on Arsenal’s ability to sign a striker themselves, amid links with Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic.
Football.London has also reported that Patrick Vieira likes Nketiah and is a fan of the player.
Mokbel admits that Palace face an uphill battle to sign Nketiah, because he can negotiate a potential free transfer in the summer, involving a big signing-on fee.
But he does believe that there is the potential of a deal being struck, provided Palace can make the numbers work.
What did Mokbel say?
Speaking to GiveMeSport, he said: “He can speak to foreign clubs at the minute, which is effectively a Bosman, which by nature are much more lucrative than your normal transfer transactions because you've got all the bonuses and all the signing-on fees that come with it.
“It's a difficult market to compete in for Palace in terms of Nketiah but if they can make the numbers work, I wouldn't rule that one out, but I think it'll be tough.”
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Is Nketiah worth it?
Palace would be taking a huge risk if they decide to bring Nketiah in on major wages.
It feels as though that would be an inevitability because of the potential of him moving for nothing in the summer.
But he simply hasn’t scored goals at a high-enough level for the deal to really be worthwhile.
In 41 Premier League games, he has scored just five times, at a rate of a goal every 0.1 games.
Nketiah is valued at £9m by Transfermarkt but even a deal at that sort of price doesn’t seem to make that much sense for the Eagles.