“£30-40m” - Ray Parlour makes Eddie Nketiah claim as Leicester City eye Arsenal star | OneFootball

Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah has been at the club for his entire professional career since signing in 2017, leaving only once on loan, but amid rumours of a first permanent move away, club legend Ray Parlour has offered his opinion on how much any potential suitors could pay for the England international.

According to FootballTransfers.com, Leicester City are interested in Eddie Nketiah's signature alongside Premier League clubs Crystal Palace and Brentford.

The striker made his Premier League debut for Arsenal in the 2017/18 season, coming on as a substitute for Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the 83rd minute of a 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion. He scored his first Premier League goal for the Gunners on the last day of the 2018/19 season in a 3-1 defeat of Burnley at Turf Moor.

Despite being in his seventh season with Arsenal, the 24-year-old has never been able to hold down a regular starting spot and makes most of his appearances as a substitute. He has found himself behind the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Jesus, and now Kai Havertz in the Arsenal striker pecking order.

Legendary Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour has made over 300 appearances for the Gunners, winning the Premier League three times and the FA Cup four times. He spoke exclusively to Football League World, via NetBet Casino, regarding a potential Eddie Nketiah transfer to Leicester City.

He said: “It’s a tough one and the decision may ultimately come down to Eddie. Should he want to get guaranteed football week-in week-out in the Premier League, or stay with Arsenal and still get good game time, but not as frequent.

“Eddie is a great guy, obviously a great player to have in the squad. It will be interesting to see how much football Eddie gets between now and the end of this season.

“You always need strikers in the squad as in my time we had four top strikers. Looking at valuation I would say between £30-40 million would be a fee for Eddie.”

Leicester City will be unlikely to afford Nketiah fee if they remain in the Championship

Promotion looked a certainty for Leicester City only a few months ago. They were cruising at the top of the League with a sizable 17-point gap but have since fallen away.

After back-to-back 1-0 away defeats to Millwall and Plymouth Argyle, the Foxes have won only three of their last ten matches and are in real danger of missing out on one of the automatic promotion spots.

Without the £100 million-plus increase in revenue gained from promotion to the Premier League, according to Deloitte, it is unlikely that City could afford a transfer fee for their Arsenal target.

According to FootballTransfers.com, the Premier League player's wages are unlikely to be an issue due to the imminent departure of club legend Jamie Vardy and his reported £150,000 per week wages.

Leicester City's Premier League and FA Cup winner Vardy leave.