Aston Villa are 'in the queue' to sign wantaway Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah in January, according to Ekrem Konur

The lowdown

Nketiah has yet to make the matchday squad for a Premier League game this season, having picked up an ankle injury just before the campaign started.

His only first-team minutes have come in the Carabao Cup clash with AFC Wimbledon, a game in which he scored.

Last season, the England Under-21 international was limited to just four Premier League starts.

Significantly, his contract is up come the end of the season and, according to a report from David Ornstein in August, 'there is no sign' of a forthcoming extension.

Arsenal may, therefore, be under pressure to sell their £14.4million-rated asset in January amid the risk of losing him for free.

The latest

Nketiah 'plans to leave' The Emirates at the turn of the year because he 'wants regular first team football', Konur says.

Villa can expect to face competition from newly-promoted Brentford and from Leeds United, where Nketiah had a spell on loan during the 2019/20 season.

The verdict

It certainly looks as if Nketiah will be leaving the Gunners, but it's hard to see Villa being his next destination.

If he wants to be playing week-in, week-out, then he surely won't go to a club where he'll be behind two other strikers - Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins - in the pecking order.

Perhaps Villa should look in-house if they want to bolster the first team's attacking ranks. Cameron Archer has been particularly impressive.

In other news, fans flocked to this update on Leon Bailey.