Arsenal star Eddie Nketiah not for sale as club reject enquiry from Premier League rivals

Crystal Palace have had a transfer enquiry regarding Eddie Nketiah rejected by Arsenal, talkSPORT understands.

The Eagles are one of a number of clubs in the market to bolster their attack in the New Year.

Roy Hodgson‘s side, who sit 15th in the Premier League table, have scored just 19 goals after as many top-flight matches.

And this has seen the south Londoners turn to Nektiah, who is Arsenal’s joint top scorer in the league with five goals this term.

However, the Gunners have rebuffed Palace’s initial approach for the one-cap England international.

talkSPORT understands that the title challengers have deemed the 24-year-old as not for sale with Mikel Arteta a huge fan of the former Leeds loan star.

Nketiah, who has had to settle to being Gabriel Jesus‘ back-up striker at the Emirates, has featured in all but one league match this campaign.

But he is without a goal in the division since bagging a stunning hat-trick in the 5-0 win over Sheffield United on October 28.

With Arteta believed to be in the marker for a centre-forward in January, Nketiah’s future at Arsenal has been speculated.

However the player looks set to be staying in north London for the remainder of the season as Arsenal bid to win a first championship since 2004.

Nketiah featured in Thursday’s 2-0 defeat against West Ham where Arsenal had 30 shots on goal, but failed to get on the score sheet.

Arteta was asked whether his side needs to bring in another goalscorer next month, however the Spaniard remained tight-lipped.

He said: “It’s what it is. We have to try to generate. If we don’t score with 30 shots, then we have to do 50 or 60 to try to score. That’s the only thing.

“I can’t imagine a game where we have more touches in the box, more dominance and less situations for the opponent against a really good West Ham side.

“Today, though, it wasn’t enough to win the game.”

He added: “All we have is the players we have, the players I love the most.

“What we have to do is try to get better situations, more training, raise the confidence and that’s it. They’ve done it.”