What Does The Future Hold For Arsenal's Kelechi Nwakali?

Published: June 06, 2019

Ahead of the resumption of a new season, Arsenal's hierarchy will have some decisions to make regarding a host of their players and one of such is the relevance of their Nigerian midfielder, Kelechi Nwakali.

While the likes of Peter Cech, Aaron Ramsey and Stephan Lichtsteiner have been confirmed to have moved onto new pastures, Nwakali who has had a torrid period trying to obtain an English work permit will return to London Colney for pre-season activities of which he is a far cry from even being in the plans of Unai Emery for next campaign.

After failing to score or even provide an assist in 16 games for Porto B last term, it is safe to say that the one-time poster boy of Nigerian youth football is now at a crossroads in his young career.

Very few would have envisaged that at 21, he would still be trying to find his feet and shuttering from club to club with very little, noticeable progress to show for particularly with the easy route to top level football he was given.

Nwakali's transfer to Arsenal three years ago was widely celebrated and viewed as the benchmark to kickstart a truely promising, glittering career but sadly, what has stuck out disappointingly, like a sore thumb, is the barrage of frustrations he has had to contend with ever since.

Saddening enough not to be stressed, the best part of his Arsenal career has actually been away from the club, with loan stints at MVV Maastricht and VVV Venlo contriving to lay bare the good and bad sides of his potentials.

As things stand, the last of such adventures has clearly not paid off and Porto are highly unlikely to exercise the purchase option they had inserted in his contract clause which brought him to Portugal last year.

Therein lies the nub of his dilemma- his chances of displacing any of the attack-minded midfielders at the Emirates is akin to mere fantasy and to sum it all, the truth could be that his future lies away from the club.

With just two years remaining on his contract with the Gunners, Arsenal will understandably be willing to cash in permanently on the youngster but the paucity of suitors could prove to be a stumbling block.

Yet, to save his swiftly dwindling career, Nwakali should know it is time up at the Emirates and a permanent home where he would be afforded senior team football is the priority now.

Emmanuel Chinaza