has slammed striker Eddie Nketiah for failing to step up following ’s departure and feels the youngster has wasted a golden opportunity.
Nketiah, who is out of contract this summer and expected to leave on a free transfer, has not scored a Premier League goal all season – though all 13 of his appearances for the Gunners have come off the bench.
Now Wright has suggested Nketiah already has one foot out the door and has heavily criticised the 22-year-old for not seizing the opportunity to become Arsenal’s main man up top and secure a new deal in the process.
Speaking to the , Wright said: ‘For the last [however] many games we’ve got left, I would probably sit Eddie Nketiah down and say, “Listen, I don’t know what the f*** is going on in your head, but we’ve got rid of Aubameyang, you’re an up-and-coming striker, you were here in the spell when he wasn’t scoring, you’re here now when isn’t scoring, you’re a centre-forward and when you’re coming on I’m not seeing it.”
‘He needs that talk to say there is an opening as a number nine at Arsenal for someone who can do this job, and he’s young enough to do that job and get in the box.
‘If someone has had that chat with him [it does not show] because when he comes on – he came on against Palace and looked okay – but he is not enough of a goal threat.
‘And I’m thinking to myself, when I was coming through, I remember at Crystal Palace I had Trevor Aylott, Andy Gray, and all I was thinking was: “If I could just have one f***ing chance to have a run in this team.”
‘And it does seem to me, when you look at Eddie as a striker who we thought of as the box striker that we need, I was thinking we had a replacement for Aubameyang and Lacazette – but what has happened to Eddie in [that] respect? Your job as a number nine is to take over from these guys!
‘So that’s one of the most frustrating things for me, to see that there’s a striker there, I don’t know if he’s going to leave or not, it doesn’t seem like there’s any contract talks going on, maybe he’s made his mind up.
‘But if you’re at Arsenal, in London, a team that’s so capable, the manager has got something, you could be that f***ing centre-forward there for f***ing years. Something has happened somewhere along the line.
‘I don’t know what’s happened, because there’s an opportunity for someone to go into that team and be a number nine and he’s there – what’s going on?! I’m not hearing anything with his contract, is he leaving?’
Asked if Nketiah could even have used his final games at Arsenal to secure a better offer from another club, Wright continued: ‘Absolutely. People will see what he’s capable of. And what they’ll also see is, in an Arsenal team that’s not creating as many chances as we should – we’re the lowest goalscorers in the top five – and he’s a goalscorer.
‘And let’s say he’s got leanings towards wanting to leave, then score goals for Arsenal! The worst thing that is going to happen is that [Arsenal] offer him a bigger deal because where are you going to go that’s better than Arsenal in this current climate of your career?
‘Where else are you going to go that’s going to give you the stature, with the stature of Mikel Arteta and everything else he’s trying to build. Where are you going to go if you’re scoring goals for Arsenal? Where do you want to be? It’s really frustrating because we need goals man!’
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