Eddie Nketiah was confirmed as a Crystal Palace player on August 30 despite seemingly joining up with the club days earlier.
The striker opted to make the move across London as he left Arsenal in a £30million deal with the Eagles benefitting. They have landed the frontman, who was long linked with a move to Selhurst Park. It was a deal that was completed late in the transfer window – but not as late as the announcement may have suggested.
The two clubs confirmed the move around 24 hours before the end of the transfer window. However Palace posted a video showing Nketiah’s movements during his “first day” as he met his new team-mates and was put through his paces.
During the video the camera pans round to a TV screen which details the day’s schedule and it is dated Wednesday August 28th – some two days before the move was made official.
It is not totally uncommon for moves to have taken place but not officially announced. Chelsea’s deadline day capture of Jadon Sancho was done on Friday night – but not announced officially by the Blues until the Saturday.
Arsenal themselves completed several late deals as they allowed Nketiah to leave but signed Raheem Sterling on loan. It became clear that the winger had no future at Chelsea after being overlooked by manager Enzo Maresca – and Mikel Arteta moved to land the winger whom he’d worked with at Manchester City.
Nketiah’s switch across the capital was also motivated by a desire to play more games. The striker has been used sporadically by Arteta in recent years with Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz both ahead of him in the pecking order. Last term he played just 28 minutes of Arsenal’s final ten Premier League games.
