Former Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah has been labelled the Premier League ‘flop of the season’ after his underwhelming start to life at Crystal Palace.
Having come through the academy at Arsenal, Nketiah became a regular part of Mikel Arteta’s squad but struggled to pin down a regular starting berth.
Nketiah scored 38 goals in 168 appearances for the Gunners but failed to score more than five league goals in any one Premier League season.
In search of more regular minutes, the England international switch clubs in the summer, moving to Crystal Palace on deadline day in a deal worth £30million.
However, the move to south London has not panned out how the 25-year-old would have hoped, with Nketiah still yet to score for his new side in the league.
Nketiah’s only two goals for his new club have come in the Carabao Cup, with the striker largely playing second fiddle to Jean-Philippe Mateta in Oliver Glasner’s side.
And having not started a game for Palace since their 2-2 draw with Wolves on November 2, Lee Hendrie reckons that Nketiah is the player he has been most disappointed by so far this campaign.
‘Eddie Nketiah at Crystal Palace has to be the biggest flop of the season,’ the former Aston Villa midfielder told 10bet.
‘He cost the football club £30m, which I know isn’t huge sums for a Premier League striker these days, but when you bring in a player like that, and Palace don’t often spend those kinds of sums, you have to expect more than what he’s produced.
‘He only scored his second goal the other day, you need more from your striker and he’s not offering that to Palace.’
Hendrie, though, was hopeful that a tweak in system could help kickstart Nketiah’s form in a Palace shirt.
‘I watched him at Arsenal, and although he didn’t play every week, most of his goals came from deliveries into the box, but Palace don’t have the same quality in the wide areas as Arsenal and they don’t really play with wingers,’ he added.
‘I’m not saying he’s a bad player; I just think the move hasn’t worked for him at all. He has got ability, he can score goals, so maybe that system doesn’t suit him, but I think it’s fair to have expected more.
‘Palace let Jordan Ayew and Odsonne Edouard leave this summer, he was supposed to help fill that void. They need him to take a bit of the pressure of Jean-Philippe Mateta, but he hasn’t been able to do that.’
Speaking back when Nketiah first arrived, Glasner insisted he could find a system that would get the best out of both of Palace’s strikers.
‘We wouldn’t spend £25m on a player who we expect to always be on the bench. We believe in his quality and his mentality and his character,’ he said.
‘Eddie can play different positions becuas he’s very smart. He’s a different proifile than Jean-Phillipe who is taller and more physicial. Eddie is more about moving and finding the space and he’s a very technical player.
‘It could be that we change our system- it’s not about the system, it’s about our habits and our patterns. We will find the right setup for us.’
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