Talking to the Beautiful Game Podcast, Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah, 22, admits that he was surprised to find out when Chelsea decided to release him back in 2015. The Englishman spent seven years with Chelsea’s youth academy after being scouted by the club at the age of nine while playing for south-east London Sunday team Hillyfielders.
Nketiah was scouted by the Blues at the age of nine, and he remained and trained at Cobham for seven years until he was discharged by the club. The player was part of a prestigious age group featuring several prominent England internationals like Declan Rice, Mason Mount, Trevor Chelobah, and Reece James.
Despite being a consistent feature of the youth teams and scoring heavily, Nketiah was released, and his Stamford Bridge career ended before it had even begun.
“It wasn’t really my choice to be fair. I was at Chelsea from Under-10s to 14s and I got released at the end of under-14s so, it was kind of my first big set back in football.”
He also admitted that it was tough to make peace with the decision given that how it had almost become his identity as a youth player.
“So, when you’re young, it’s all you know. Going to Chelsea, in school you’re known as the kid who goes to Chelsea.
“It’s part of your identity, it’s hard to let go. It was tough to take to be fair, especially as I was doing so well at the time,”
It didn’t take him long, however, to get his football career up and running as Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal snapped him up in 2017. He has since then appeared in 85 matches for the Gunners and has scored 18 times.
