The second installment of the Eddie Nketiah transfer saga will reach its finale in the next 48 hours with the Arsenal striker mulling over offers from four clubs, including Bristol City.
The Robins join Premier League Aston Villa and Championship rivals Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday as viable destinations with Norwich City now thought to be out of the race.
Even before Nketiah was recalled from his largely unproductive loan at Leeds United in the first half of the season, City had declared their interest in bringing the 20-year-old to Ashton Gate.
The club hope their promise of regular first-team minutes and starts - which is thought to be paramount in his team’s decision-making - and of developing young players can tip the balance in their favour.
However, that was precisely the pitch that was presented in the summer when City lost out to Leeds on deadline day. That said, the lack of game time experienced at Elland Road has no doubt displayed to his camp that was a wrong decision to make at the time.
City's message has been constant and there is optimism that their commitment over the last six months will count for something. However, there is also an acceptance, given the size of the competing clubs, that Nketiah could be once again convinced elsewhere.
Along with City, Forest and Sheffield Wednesday are in need of strikers this transfer window with the former almost exclusively dependent on Lewis Grabban while the Owls have lost top scorer Steven Fletcher for up to 10 weeks with a knee injury.
As reported by Bristol Live on Friday, Villa have entered the bidding relatively late on after Wesley Moraes suffered a cruciate knee injury at the start of the month, ruling the Brazilian out for the season, and can, of course, offer Premier League football.
So too Norwich, but the anticipated return of Teemu Pukki to training over the next week means the Canaries aren’t being considered a likely destination as, once the Finn is match fit, Nketiah would be relegated to second choice, as he was at Leeds when deputy to Patrick Bamford.
From Arsenal’s perspective, they are relaxed as to which club their prospect chooses, whether it be in the Premier League or Championship, and ultimately just want to him to play in an environment he will most comfortable in.
On Saturday night, Mikel Arteta reiterated the club’s plans to allow Nketiah to leave on loan even in light of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s three-games suspension for his red card against Crystal Palace.
"At the moment we have to think medium to long term with Eddie," Arteta said. "We have to respect his evolution, his development, and we don’t have to make decisions just based on two or three games I think.”
Nketiah will encounter familiar faces at Ashton Gate in the form of Jay Dasilva and Kasey Palmer who know the Londoner well from their time in the England Under-21 set-up.
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