Interested clubs were asked to make presentations at London Colney to both Eddie and the club to explain why they were the right fit for him.
[*]Process is new at Arsenal and seen as pioneering. Eddie was the first player it was applied to. Newly promoted Ben Knapper is the loans manager and he sat on the panel with Huss Fahmy and Eddie to hear the different pitches. Pitches were a necessity for any bid to be considered. No other PL club dissects loan bids to such a degree.
[*]Leeds also had to pay seven figure fee including wages to get him (seven figures means somewhere between £1m - £9.9m.
[*]There was lots of interest in Eddie. Final 3 shortlist who were asked to make presentations were Bristol City, Leeds and Fortuna Dusseldorf.
[*]Arsenal see Eddie as a future first-team player and want him back in a years' time. Purpose of loan is to further his development and each interested club had to explain in detail how they would aim to do that. Leeds' chief executive states that Arsenal were "categorical" in seeing Nketiah as a future first team player
[*]Bristol City's pitch was made by their manager, Lee Johnson, who travelled to Colney himself. Dusseldorf and Leeds sent their DOFs.
[*]Leeds' DOF Victor Orta has a relationship with Emery from Spain which initially helped Leeds get a foot in the door (they were a late entrant after their sale of top scorer Kemar Roofe), while it was also Emery who had the final say over sanctioning the loan move.
[*]Leeds have extensive knowledge of Nketiah: they have scouted him over 20 times and Orta's presentation lasted more than an hour with detailed clips of Leeds' style of play (in and out of possession), along with footage of Eddie himself, depicting how their tactics would suit him.
[*]Orta's presentation eventually won the day (despite very good presentations from Dusseldorf and Bristol City). Prospect of playing under Bielsa for a season was also very attractive, as was the exposure that would come through playing for a club like Leeds (30k home attendances & lots of tv coverage).
[*]Arsenal will monitor Nketiah's move closely and even sent someone to watch the Leeds game vs. Nottingham Forest that Nketiah didn't play in. There are punitive aspects to the agreement with Leeds which means Leeds will pay more the less they play him.